Lands Preserved in Orleans

Since its founding in 1970, Orleans Conservation Trust has preserved more than 660 acres in Orleans through deeded gifts, land purchases, and private conservation restrictions. Here you’ll find a complete (and growing) list of all the lands OCT has protected to date. If you’re looking mainly for places that are open to walkers and have trails, see Areas with Trails.

As the list below indicates, our landholdings include many types of habitats—from saltmarsh expanses to Atlantic white cedar swamps and from open meadows to impenetrable thickets—all with important conservation value. Properties range in size from one-third acre to the nearly 60 acres preserved by the Margaret Cochran Gift in South Orleans.

Every property is valuable in its own way: protecting a watershed, providing wildlife habitat, supporting climate resiliency, or preserving a view. When considering whether to acquire a property by purchase, the Trust carefully considers acreage, accessibility, proximity to other preserved land, habitat value, recreational value, risk for development, and the property’s current condition, among other factors.