Protected Open Space Inventory
DVRPC maintains an inventory of protected public and private open space in the Delaware Valley. The inventory tracks federal, state, county and municipally owned lands, preserved farmland and privately owned protected open spaces. State, county and municipal programs preserve farms by purchasing development rights with public funds. Land trusts and conservancies protect privately owned open space lands from development by purchasing easements or by acquiring land outright with a combination of public and private monies.
DVRPC updates this inventory regularly as new information becomes available. The most recent update was completed during December 2004.
| Year 2004 Protected Open Space by Ownership (acres) |
|
|
|
Publicly Owned Lands |
|
Privately Owned Lands |
|
|
| County |
Federal |
State |
County |
Municipal |
Total Protected Public Open Space |
Protected Public Open Space as Percent of Total Area10 |
Public Protected Acreage
per 1000
People11 |
Preserved Farmland |
Land Trust or Privately Protected |
Total Protected Private Open Space |
Protected Private Open Space as Percent of Total Area10 |
|
| Bucks1 |
0 |
12,880 |
8,322 |
10,363 |
31,565 |
8.12% |
52.8 |
8,014 |
7,617 |
15,631 |
4.02% |
| Chester2 |
1,290 |
7,105 |
5,792 |
7,714 |
21,901 |
4.53% |
47.9 |
20,688 |
30,660 |
51,348 |
10.61% |
| Delaware3 |
726 |
2,683 |
844 |
5,197 |
9,450 |
8.02% |
17.2 |
208 |
2,289 |
2,497 |
2.12% |
| Montgomery4 |
1,964 |
4,475 |
5,770 |
11,031 |
23,240 |
7.52% |
31.2 |
6,183 |
3,606 |
9,789 |
3.17% |
| Philadelphia5 |
365 |
282 |
8,126 |
1,360 |
10,133 |
11.72% |
6.7 |
0 |
531 |
531 |
0.61% |
| PA TOTAL |
4,345 |
27,425 |
28,854 |
35,665 |
96,289 |
6.95% |
24.8 |
35,093 |
44,703 |
79,796 |
5.76% |
|
| Burlington6 |
4,001 |
140,036 |
2,658 |
9,512 |
156,207 |
30.34% |
345.6 |
18,321 |
2,841 |
21,162 |
4.11% |
| Camden7 |
0 |
18,845 |
2,640 |
4,050 |
25,535 |
17.95% |
51.0 |
118 |
9 |
127 |
0.09% |
| Gloucester8 |
0 |
5,400 |
1,706 |
4,058 |
11,164 |
5.37% |
43.1 |
8,865 |
423 |
9,288 |
4.46% |
| Mercer9 |
0 |
4,283 |
8,311 |
8,158 |
20,752 |
14,36% |
54.7 |
4,676 |
2,079 |
6,755 |
4.67% |
| NJ TOTAL |
4,001 |
168,564 |
15,297 |
25,778 |
213,640 |
21.16% |
131.4 |
31,980 |
5,352 |
37,332 |
3.70% |
|
| REGION TOTAL |
8,346 |
195,989 |
44,151 |
61,443 |
309,929 |
12.94% |
55.2 |
67,073 |
50,055 |
117,128 |
4.89% |
|
Sources:
Protected lands data was furnished by the Bucks County Planning Commission; the Bucks County Agricultural Land Preservation Program; the Bucks County Dept. of Parks and Recreation; the Chester County Planning Commission; the Delaware County Planning Department; the Montgomery County Planning Commission; the GreenSpace Alliance; the Heritage Conservancy; the Fairmount Parks Commission; the Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access Clearinghouse (PASDA); the Burlington County Office of Resource Conservation, the Camden County Division of Open Space and Farmland Preservation, the Gloucester County Planning Department; the Mercer County Planning Commission; NJDEP's Green Acres Program; and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. This table was assembled in December 2004 and is based primarily on files that were obtained at various points throughout 2004. Updated data was not available for Delaware and Philadelphia counties in 2004. Open space acreages for these counties are based on files collected in 2003.
1 The Bucks County county acreage total is based on information provided by the Bucks County Department of Parks and Recreation. Actual mapped acreage is 7919 acres. The preserved farmland
figure is based on tabular data published in the Bucks County Agricultural Land Preservation Program's 2004 Annual Report. 2004 GIS data for Bucks County was supplied by the Heritage
Conservancy in September 2004. However, this data set was incomplete and was therefore used in combination with a preexisting data set developed by DVRPC for the 2000 Open Space
Inventory. The municipal land acreage figure and land trust land acreage figure are based on a combination of data supplied by the Heritage Conservancy, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council
(March 2003), and DVRPC.
2 2004 data for Chester County was supplied by the Chester County Planning Commission in August 2004. According to Chester County, the mapped data is up to date as of December 31st 2003.
Land trust data is a combination of data supplied by Chester County in August 2002 and data compiled by PEC, which was last updated in March 2003.
3 Delaware County provided no new data in 2004. 2003 public open space data was supplied by Delaware County in Spring 2003. This data was based on County tax parcel maps. The preserved
farmland figure is based on a file developed by DVRPC. Land trust data is based entirely on information provided by PEC in March 2003.
4 Open Space totals for Montgomery County are based on tabular figures published in the Montgomery County Open Space Plan. Actual mapped acreages are 5126 acres for county land, 3,879
acres for state land, 11,197 acres for municipal land, and 6,311 acres for preserved farmland. Mapping (GIS) data was provided by the Montgomery County Planning Commission in October 2004.
Philadelphia County provided no new data in 2004. 2003 public open space data
was supplied by the Fairmount Parks Commission. This file is based on city
tax parcel maps. Land trust data is based entirely on information provided
by PEC in March 2003.
2004 data was supplied by Burlington County Office of Resource Conservation
in October 2004. State open space data was augmented with data furnished by
NJDEP's Green Acres program.
2004 data was taken from the Camden County Open Space Plan completed by DVRPC
in May 2004.
2004 open space figures are based on data supplied by Gloucester County in
January 2004. This is the most recent file provided by Gloucester County.
2004 data for Mercer County was supplied by the Mercer County Planning Commission
in September 2004.
Percent area calculation is based on county land area only (water area is not
included). Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
Acres per 1,00 population is based on actual population figures from the 2000
U.S. Census. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
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Open Space Highlights and Trends
- Protected public and private lands represent 13% and 5% of the region's area respectively
- Public protected lands in the Delaware Valley increased by about 36,000 acres since DVRPC's 2000 inventory and by 58,000 acres since DVRPC's 1993 inventory.
- Municipal lands account for 16,700 of the 36,000 acre increase since 2000. State and county land holdings increased by 14,200 and 5,000 acres respectively, since 2000. Federal land holdings did not change.
- Some protected open space gains are attributable to more accurate mapping, not actual acquisitions. This is particularly true with regard to municipal lands, which are difficult to inventory because they are small and numerous and because local governments do not all maintain up-to-date maps of their preserved open space.
- Although public lands represent over 13% of the region's area, the analysis shows that these lands are not evenly distributed among the counties. Burlington County alone contains more than half of the region's public lands.
- While comparing acreage in each county is informative, it is also useful to compare public land acreage per 1,000 population. For example, while a much greater portion of Philadelphia (11.7%) than Chester County (4.5%) is publicly owned, Philadelphia has only 6.7 acres of public land per 1,000 residents, while Chester County has nearly 48 acres per 1,000 residents.
- Burlington County has by far the greatest amount of public land, both in terms of total area and acres per 1000 population, but most of this area is for conservation purposes in the Pine Barrens, and is therefore less accessible to the majority of the county's - and the region's - population.
- Farmland in the Delaware Valley is some of the most productive agricultural land in the nation, but it is also land most likely to be converted to other, developed uses. From 1990-2000, the region lost almost 6,000 acres of farmland per year. Purchase of development rights programs in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey have accelerated to counter this trend, increasing the number of preserved farm acres from 15,000 in 1994 to over 67,000 in 2004.
- Approximately 2,000 acres of farmland were preserved across the region from Fall 2003 to Fall 2004.
- In addition to lands owned and eased by land trusts, protected private lands shown in this inventory include lands owned by non-profit organizations that are managed for a conservation objective, such as the Schuylkill Environmental Center, the Tyler Arboretum, and the Awbury Arboretum, etc.
- The change in the amount of protected private open space over time cannot yet be calculated because accurate and comprehensive historical data for protected private open space is not available. The change in protected private open space over time will be tracked moving forward, using the current inventory as the baseline.
- Community gardens in the City of Philadelphia and other urban areas are important to recognize and maintain. They provide visual relief, safe havens, community pride and fresh, healthy produce for neighborhood residents. However, these areas were not captured in this inventory due to their small scale, a lack of comprehensive source information, and uncertainties regarding their ownership status.
Open Space Inventory Map
(updated 12/04) [.pdf | 1.51 MB]
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Regional Planning