Open Space Protection – Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program

Zipped GIS Shapefile: December 2023 Buzzards Bay Protected Open Space (3 MB).

Map of Buzzards Bay Open Space

Map of Buzzards Bay watershed protected open space circ 2023. Data is clipped to the Buzzards Bay watershed boundary. Because of file size limitation for the Google Maps API, this interactive map just shows just shows ownership information. Details about each parcel are contained in the zipped shapefile at the top of this page. The Buzzards Bay NEP open data differs from the MassGIS open space coverage in that we exclude certain categories such as cemeteries, municipal golf courses, and unprotected open space in our calculations.

Why protect open space?

Protecting open space make sense from an ecological standpoint as well as a financial one. Open space provides critical habitat and corridors for wildlife and plants, protects important water supplies, provides areas for recreational activities, protects historically significant places, and preserves the charm and character of the area in which we live. Open space also make sense for a town’s tax base because undeveloped, protected land costs the town nothing, as community services, such as schools, police, and road services, are not required. Many reports have documented the value of open space when compared to the high costs of community services.

Who is working to protect open spaces?

Over 85,300 acres (or 31.7% of the total land area; statistics exclude Rhode Island) of the Buzzards Bay watershed, from Fall River to Falmouth, is permanently protected open space. Of that total, 11,563 (13.5%) are protected by local land trusts. Land trusts have a long history of protecting land in southeastern Massachusetts, dating back to the early 1970s. There are currently 10 local and 3 regional land trusts working to protect the southeastern Massachusetts landscape. Except for Carver and New Bedford, each Buzzards Bay municipality has its own local land trust. The table below shows the largest fee owners in the Buzzards Bay watershed.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts	37,562
Town of Dartmouth	3,423
Town of Falmouth	1,980
Buzzards Bay Coalition	1,852
Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust	1,793
Town of Bourne	1,521
City of Fall River	1,515
Westport Land Conservation Trust	1,480
Town of Marion	1,431
Town of Wareham	1,317
Sippican Lands Trust	1,156
Forbes, Stephen	1,073
The Trustees of Reservations	898
Private Landowner	823
City of New Bedford	821
Mattapoisett Land Trust	746
Fairhaven-Acushnet Land Preservation Trust	743
Narragansett Council BSA	742
Town of Acushnet	658
Town of Mattapoisett	637
MA Audubon Society	621
Town of Fairhaven	621
Wildlands Trust of SE Massachusetts	612
United States Government	574
Town of Westport	492
Town of Rochester	479
ADM Agawam Development LLC	465
Town of Carver	417

While the land trust community has made great strides in open space protection, few area land trusts can afford to fund full-time staff members, and most function with only a dedicated board of volunteers. To help the land trust community with their endeavor, the Buzzards Bay Coalition, located in New Bedford, started the Bay Lands Center. The Bay Lands Center focuses on enhancing the land acquisition capabilities of area land trusts by serving as a coordination and service arm to land trusts and property owners. The Center develops land protection strategies, assists staff, and maintains contact with large landowners. The Buzzards Bay NEPs works cooperatively with the Bay Land Center by maintaining an open space database and providing high quality Geographic Information System (GIS) maps to the Center.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is also a big player in land protection in southeastern Massachusetts. The Commonwealth owns over 24,000 acres of land in the Buzzards Bay watershed, more than one third of all the protected land in our area. The Commonwealth generally purchases land that has extraordinary natural resource features, and it prefers to buy lands that build on its existing wildlife management areas and reserves. The Commonwealth’s biggest achievement was the acquisition, in 2000, of 3,800 acres in Fall River, which lead to the creation of the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve.

Annual acquisitions of Open Space in Buzzards Bay (from NEP GIS dataset).

Buzzards Bay Lands Trusts

Click on the following link for a directory of Buzzards Bay Lands Trusts. The Buzzards Bay NEP provides technical assistance to many of these organizations.

List of Buzzards Bay watershed Lands Trusts

What can landowners do?

Protecting open space can ease the tax burden for individual landowners. Upon a landowner’s death, federal estate taxes on property can be as high as 55% of the property’s fair market value, essentially forcing heirs to sell all or part of the land to pay the taxes. Donation of land or placing a conservation restriction on a property can result in substantial income tax deduction and reduce property and estate taxes.

How do you protect open space? If you are interested in learning more about how to protect your property, preserve its natural resource values, and generate tax advantages for you and your family, you should contact one of the local or regional land trusts. There are a variety of land protection methods available and most of these options offer several financial benefits and tax incentives.

Landowners often make conservation gifts or restrict future development on their land because they wish to preserve the environmental significance of their property and ensure that their successors will respect their wishes. Representatives from your local land trust will speak with you regarding the special qualities of your property and suggest the best methods for protecting those resources. You should also discuss your options with your legal and financial advisers.

Below is a summary of the principal techniques available to landowners.

Conservation Restrictions

A conservation restriction, also called a conservation easement, is one of the most promising techniques available for promoting land conservation. A conservation restriction is a strategy that allows the landowner to maintain ownership and use of the land while limiting development on the property, ensuring that the land remains in the condition the landowner wishes. A conservation restriction is an addition to the existing property deed and the conditions in the conservation restriction are binding on all future owners.

There is great flexibility in creating a conservation restriction. Activities such as farming, forest management, and other land uses that the property owner wishes to pursue are often allowed. A conservation restriction can even be tailored to exclude a portion of the property so that a future home may be built. The landowner’s ability to sell the property or bequeath it to heirs remains. The tax benefits, including a reduction in estate and property taxes, are often substantial.

Land Donations

Most of the land protected by conservation groups and municipal conservation commissions has been acquired through outright gifts of the land by generous and willing donors. If land is given for conservation purposes, the receiving organization is required to maintain the land in its natural state in perpetuity. However, the donor may make specific stipulations as to the use of the land such as “forever wild” or passive recreational use only.

The tax benefits of gifting land are numerous – donors are entitled to an income tax deduction of the value of the property. The deduction is allowed to be up to 30 percent of the donor’s taxable income each year for a period of five years, up to the value of the donation. In addition, both property taxes and estate taxes on the land are eliminated.

Land donation is a simple and highly effective means of conserving land. Much of our open space is the result of generous land donations.

B. Gift of a Remainder Interest
A landowner can give away property to a conservation organization or municipal conservation commission but retain the right to live on it. At the death of the landowner, the full ownership of the land transfers to the conservation organization. A gift of a remainder interest will include mutually agreeable conditions concerning the maintenance and management of the land during the landowner’s lifetime. The donor of a remainder interest can generally claim a related income tax deduction and potentially high real estate taxes are eliminated.

C. Bequests
A landowner can convey land to an organization such as a land trust in their will. A deduction from the value of one’s taxable estate is allowed for land bequeathed for public purposes.

Limited Development

Landowners may wish to protect property that has conservation value but are not able to sacrifice what may be their most valuable asset. Limited development can serve as a workable alternative for landowners seeking to preserve their land and need some direct financial gain from their property.

On appropriate parcels of land, and with a cooperating developer, some development can occur while the remaining land is permanently protected through one or more of the methods described here. The new development should be strategically located to preserve the property’s most critical scenic and natural resources, and the landowner will receive a cash return from the property. This land conservation method is sometimes referred to as Conservation or Open Space Development.

Purchases

Small regional land trusts and municipal conservation commissions are generally unable to purchase conservation land at fair market value. Larger organizations such as the Trust for Public Lands, The Trustees of Reservations, and The Nature Conservancy, are often more effective at raising large sums of money to purchase exceptional conservation land at fair market value. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has several land conservation programs that occasionally purchase land with significant resources characteristics worth preserving. The Commonwealth prefers to acquire lands that build on its existing open space reserves.

A regional land trust can act as a liaison for owners of land with outstanding resources that are competitive candidates for acquisition by other organizations and agencies.

Under this method, the landowner sells the property to a charitable organization for less than fair market value. This option is more attractive to prospective purchasers, and it can also qualify the seller for income tax deductions, with an overall result comparable to a sale at market value.

Bargain sales are a standard open space acquisition tool for large private land conservation organizations and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A small local land trust is generally unable to purchase conservation land, even at bargain sale prices. Some regional or statewide land trusts can use this option to protect open space deemed critical to a region’s scenic and natural heritage.

Administered by the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture, the Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) program protects farmlands by purchasing the development rights to the land. A permanent deed restriction is placed on the property, ensuring that the farm is never developed, while the farmer is provided with cash from the sale of the development rights and the ability to continue farming.

The APR program is highly competitive, with preference given to working farms, located in agriculturally productive regions of the state, with highly productive agricultural soils. Acceptance of a farm into the APR program is typically supported by a financial contribution from the local municipality.

Go to our GPRA Report Maps) for more information on specific projects.

Links to State and Local Land Conservation Organizations

Links to Key State Agency Links

Links to Land Protection Environmental Organizations

Open Space Activities of the Buzzards Bay NEP.

The Buzzards Bay NEP is preparing municipal open space plans to help towns better protect water quality, wetlands, and habitat through the acquisition or protection of open space. This page has links of acres protected in each town.

Important Legislation

An Act Facilitating the use of Land Transfer of Development Rights Approved August 3, 2002 amended this section: 40A-9.htm.

Community Preservation Act amendment at: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2002/Chapter165

LINKS TO RELATED SITES

MA DEP Wetlands Page.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Resource Protection Page.