Recent Initiative

Cape Cod National Seashore Priority Lands Project

As the Cape’s national park, the Cape Cod National Seashore in not only a scenic destination where sea meets sand, but is also a diverse landscape populated with woods, wetlands, and wildlife still in need of protection. The Compact has been working alongside staff of the Cape Cod National Seashore to foster a greater awareness of land conservation options for owners of property within the park boundary.

 

In 1961, the Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) boundary was delineated, encompassing approximately 43,524 acres spread across five Cape towns. Within this boundary were not only lands that became permanently protected under federal ownership, but also town-owned and privately-owned vacant lands, as well as developed land with substantial residual vacant acreage.

 

Twenty years later, changes to the Federal Land & Water Conservation Fund required the National Park Service to identify and prioritize parcels for acquisition and protection to meet resource management goals, resulting in the 1985 CCNS Land Protection Plan. Today, many of the parcels identified in that plan remain open to development, or conservation, including about 600 privately-owned parcels within the CCNS boundaries.

 

 

Fifty years after the establishment of the CCNS, and with the encouragement of the Park staff, The Compact developed a short video showing why the work of protecting land within the CCNS boundaries is crucial to maintaining the integrity of the Outer Cape’s habitats. *Click here to see the video (video link?) But the video alone is not enough to reach the 600 owners of unprotected in-holding parcels.

 

The Compact also published a booklet titled To Live Lightly on the Land: A Guide to Private Land Protection in the Cape Cod National Seashore. This 32-page color booklet presents inspiring stories of landowners who have made a difference for the National Seashore and Cape Cod by preserving their own special places within the park’s boundary.  The booklet also transcends park boundaries by describing general land conservation concepts that other preservation-minded property owners may find useful.