Open Space

The term open space is used to refer to lands with natural, cultural, agricultural, and passive recreational resource values. These lands include protected open spaces dedicated to conservation or recreation, as well as undeveloped lands with potential for protection for their open space resource values. Here, freshwater ponds and lakes have been included as permanently protected open space.

Around 39% of the land area on Cape Cod is designated as permanently protected open space. The land ownership of protected open space varies widely across the Cape: for example, the federally-owned Cape Cod National Seashore has a large presence in Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet; Joint Base Cape Cod comprises a significant amount of state-owned open space land in Bourne and Sandwich; and other towns including Barnstable, Falmouth, Dennis, and Yarmouth have a large share of municipally-owned land. Most open space on Cape Cod is protected in perpetuity and recorded as such in a deed or other official document. Other levels of protection represent less stringent restrictions for shorter time periods, through other legal mechanisms, or no restriction at all.