OVERVIEW

The protected and recreational open space datalayer contains the boundaries of conservation lands and outdoor recreational facilities in Massachusetts. The associated database contains relevant information about each parcel, including ownership, level of protection, public accessibility, assessor’s map and lot numbers, and related legal interests held on the land, including conservation restrictions. Conservation and outdoor recreation facilities owned by federal, state, county, municipal, and nonprofit enterprises are included in this datalayer. Privately owned lands with deeded restrictions are also included, as are lands in the Chapter 61 program. This datalayer can also be linked, through related tables, with the 1988 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) inventory, with facilities and activities data for recreation sites. 

See Recent Updates

The datalayer is paneled into 351 town coverages and significant updates are ongoing. This update effort, coordinated by MassGIS, uses volunteers from state environmental agencies, regional planning commissions, local watershed associations, town conservation commissions, municipal planning and engineering departments, local and regional nonprofits, and open space plan committees.

Although the initial data collection effort for this data layer has been completed, open space changes continually and this data layer is therefore considered to be under development. Additionally, due to the collaborative nature of this data collection effort, the accuracy and completeness of open space data varies across the state’s municipalities. Attributes, while comprehensive in scope, may be incomplete for many parcels.

An evaluation of the accuracy and completeness of open space data for each municipality can be found in the INFO file OS_STATU distributed with open space data. For more information or to obtain the current status of a municipality, please call (617) 626-1076.

The following types of land are included in this datalayer:

conservation land - habitat protection with minimal recreation, such as walking trails 

recreation land -  outdoor facilities such as town parks, commons, playing fields, school fields, golf courses, bike paths, scout camps, and fish and game clubs.  These may be privately or publicly owned facilities. 

town forests 

parkways - green buffers along roads, if they are a recognized conservation resource 

agricultural land - land protected under an Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) and administered by the state Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA) 

aquifer protection land  -  not zoning overlay districts 

watershed protection land - not zoning overlay districts 

cemeteries - if they are a recognized conservation or recreation resource

Also included for some towns are lands in the Chapter 61 program (61 = Forestry; 61A = Agriculture; 61B = Recreation). These parcel boundaries are not currently available state-wide, and may not be maintained over time, but can be useful for municipal planning purposes.

State and federal lands were originally compiled in 1988 from 1:25,000 scale maps by the Department of Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The data were verified and are maintained by each agency of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA). Each agency maintains its own maps according to its own standard operating procedures and the accuracy of these maps varies. Some parcels were drafted onto USGS quadrangles from detailed surveys, while in other cases the exact property boundary is not known. The compilation process that produced a unified manuscript faithfully reproduced the property boundaries as represented on the agencies' maps. The DFWELE cartographer then compiled onto this manuscript the land holdings of the National Park Service (NPS), US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), and The Trustees of Reservations (TTOR, incomplete). Updating of this coverage began in the fall of 1989 and is ongoing.

Also included in the original open space datalayer were some community and local lands within Berkshire and Essex Counties and the Nashua River Basin. The production methodology varied subtly by region. Compilation of open space holdings in Essex County had already been done by the Essex County Greenbelt Association (ECGA), and these 1:25,000 scale maps were used as the manuscript for Essex County. Manuscripts for Berkshire County were compiled by the Berkshire County Cooperative Extension Service in cooperation with town assessors, conservation commissions, and local land trusts. Manuscripts for the Nashua River Basin were prepared jointly by DFWELE and the Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA) from town assessors maps.

The open space datalayer is divided into 351 town panels and is held in the MassGIS TOWN library. Existing information (both geographic and attribute) continues to be updated with the assistance of volunteers at the local level and with the assistance of regional planning commissions. The resulting data are variable in their accuracy and completeness. Geographic data sources are predominantly town tax assessor’s maps and existing open space plans. We maintain a record of all source maps used. Often these maps have been recompiled by the volunteers onto a standard 1:25,000 basemap produced by MassGIS. The data are then digitized from these basemaps. In other cases data may be digitized from a map supplied by our volunteer if this map meets minimum digitizing requirements. Increasingly, data are also pulled into the open space coverage from preexisting digital data layers provided by a municipality, regional planning agency, or state agency. All polygons bordering a road, stream, pond, town boundary, or coastline are snapped to that feature and the coincident arcs are coded according to the coincident feature. The production methodology used with each town coverage and an evaluation of the quality of source materials can be found in the OS_STATUS INFO file included in the data export.

NOTE ON APPROPRIATE USE OF DATA:

These data are very useful for most statewide and regional planning purposes. However, they are not a legal record of ownership, and the user should understand that parcel representations are generally not based on property surveys.

In Perpetuity - Legally protected in perpetuity and recorded as such in a deed or other official document. Land is considered protected in perpetuity if it is owned by the town’s conservation commission or, sometimes, by the water department; if a town has a conservation restriction on the property in perpetuity; if it is owned by one of the state’s conservation agencies (thereby covered by article 97); if it is owned by a non-profit land trust; or if the town received federal or state assistance for the purchase or improvement of the property.

Private land is considered protected if it has a deed restriction in perpetuity, if an Agriculture Preservation Restriction has been placed on it, or a Conservation Restriction has been placed on it.

Temporary - Legally protected for less than perpetuity (e.g. short term conservation restriction or Chap61 lands), or temporarily protected through an existing functional use. For example, some water district lands are only temporarily protected while water resource protection is their primary use.

These lands could be developed for other uses at the end of their temporary protection or when their functional use is no longer necessary. These lands will revert to unprotected status at a given date unless protection status is extended.

Limited - Protected by legal mechanisms other than those above, or protected through functional or traditional use.

These lands might be protected by a requirement of a majority municipal vote for any change in status. This designation also includes lands that are likely to remain open space for other reasons (e.g. cemeteries and municipal golf courses).

None - Totally unprotected by any legal or functional means. This land is usually privately owned and could be sold without restriction at any time for another use (e.g. scout camps, private golf course, and private woodland).

SCORP attributes are being updated with data provided by volunteers; additional information will be available for many recreation sites, including available facilities and suitable activities. All sites purchased with funds administered by the Division of Conservation Resources (DCS), EOEA, are being added to the data layer, including sites in the Self Help and Urban Self Help programs. All Conservation Restrictions approved by the Secretary of EOEA will be added to the data layer. Lastly, MassGIS is attempting to map Chapter 61 lands in all municipalities.

Items in OSP.PAT:

ITEM NAME	WDTH	OPUT	TYP	N.DEC
TOWN-ID	3	3	I	-
POLY-ID	4	4	I	-
COUNTY_CODE	2	2	I	-
SCORP_ID	6	6	I	-
FEE_OWNER	20	20	C	-
STATUS_FEE_OWNER	1	1	C	-
MANAGER	20	20	C	-
STATUS_MANAGER	1	1	C	-
OTHER_1	20	20	C	-	Enterprise(s) holding a legal interest in this land
INT_1	4	4	C	-
STATUS_1	1	1	C	-
OTHER_2	20	20	C	-
INT_2	4	4	C	-
STATUS_2	1	1	C	-
OTHER_3	20	20	C	-
INT_3	4	4	C	-
STATUS_3	1	1	C	-
GRANTPROG1	10	10	C	-
GRANTSTAT1	1	1	C	-
GRANTPROG2	10	10	C	-
GRANTSTAT2	1	1	C	-
SITE_NAME	30	30	C	-
AREA_ACRES	9	9	N	2
ASSESS_ACRES	9	9	N	2
DEED_ACRES	9	9	N	2
PROJ_ID1	10	10	C	-	EOEA legal interests only.
PROJ_ID2	10	10	C	-	EOEA legal interests only.
PROJ_ID3	10	10	C	-	EOEA legal interests only.
FY_FUNDING	4	4	I	-
CAL_YR_REC	4	4	I	-
BOND_ACCT	10	10	C	-	EOEA legal interests only.
PRIMARY_PURP	1	1	C	-	Primary purpose
PUB_ACCESS	1	1	C	-	Public access
LEV_PROT	1	1	C	-	Level of protection (see definitions)
CH61_PROG	1	1	C	-
EOEAINVOLV	1	1	I	-
OS_DEED_BOOK	6	6	I	-
OS_DEED_PAGE	4	4	I	-
ASSESS_MAP	5	5	C	-
ASSESS_BLK	5	5	C	-
ASSESS_LOT	5	5	C	-
ASSESS_SUBLOT	5	5	C	-
BASE_MAP	6	6	C	-	MassGIS base map number.
SOURCE_MAP	6	6	C	-	Volunteer' smap.
COMMENTS	60	60	C	-
DFWFLAG	2	2	C	-	For DFWELE use only.
POLY-DATE	8	10	D	-	Date polygon was digitized.
ATT-DATE	8	10	D	-	Date attributes were entered.
SYMOP1	16	16	C	-	(Used for plotting maps with symbol LUT)
CR/APR	4	4	C	-	(Used for plotting maps with symbol LUT)
*** REDEFINED ITEMS ***
OS_ID	7	7	I	-	Unique GIS identifier
FLAG1	1	1	C	-
FLAG2	1	1	C	-
Z1	1	1	C	-	used to zero-fill OS_ID
Z2	2	2	C	-
Z3	3	3	C	-
TILE-NAME	3	3	C	-
PROJECTIDS	30	30	C	-

** The fields OTHER_, INT_,  and STATUS_ together describe any enterprise holdinga legal interest on the land.

CODE DESCRIPTIONS FOR OPEN SPACE
(Within each section all codes are applicable to all fields)

1. STATUS FIELDS

Field		Code - Description
STATUS_OWNER (SFO)		F- Federal
STATUS_MANAGER		S - State
STATUS_1		C - County
STATUS_2		M - Municipal
STATUS_3		N - PrivateNonprofit
		P - Private for profit
		B - Public Nonprofit
		O - None of the above (e.g.joint ownership)
		X - Unknown
		I - Inholding (a piece of unprotected property surrounded on all sides by a protected property or a recreational facility)
		W - Water body (entirepolygon is water)
		Unconfirmed:
		1 - EOEA or EOEA (alternatestate agencies)
		2 - EOEA or non-profit
		3 - EOEA or municipality
		4 - EOEA or private landowner

2. INTEREST FIELDS

Field		Code - Description
INT_1		CR - Conservation Restriction
INT_2		APR - Agricultural Preservation Restriction
INT_3		CAPR - Conservation/Agricultural Preservation Restriction
		AQR - Aquifer Protection
		AR - Air Rights
		HPR - Historic Preservation
		EASE - Easement (official restriction only)
		WR - Watershed Restriction (local)
		WR - Wetlands Restriction (Program)
		OLI - Other Legal Restriction

3. GRANT PROGRAMS

Field		Code - Description
		State programs:
GRANTPROG1		ALA - Aquifer Lands Acquisition
GRANTPROG2		SH - State Self-help
		USH - Urban Self-help
		Federal programs:
		LWCF - Land and Water Conservation Fund
		FF - Other federal funds

4.PUBLIC ACCESS TYPES

Field		Code - Description
PUB_ACCESS (PA)		Y - Yes (open to public)
		N - No (not open to public)
		L - Limited (membership only)
		X - Unknown
		1 - Public
		2 - Public (residents only)
		3 - Public (seasonal)
		4 - Private (public welcome)
		5 - Private (members only)
		6 - None

5. PRIMARY PURPOSE

Field		Code - Description
PRIMARY_PURP (PP)		R - Recreation (activities are facility based)
		C - Conservation (activities are non-facility based)
		B - Recreation and Conservation
		H - Historical/Cultural
		A - Agriculture
		W - Water Supply Protection
		S - Scenic (official designation only)
		F - Flood Control
		O - Other (explain)
		X - Unknown

6.  LEVEL OF PROTECTION (see definitions)

Field		Code - Description
LEV_PROT (LP)		P - Inperpetuity
		T - Temporary (Chapter 61  61A  61B  some CRs)
		L - Limited (by something other than time)
		N - None
		X - Unknown

7. CHAPTER 61 TYPE

Field		Code - Description
CH61_PROG (Forestry)		F- CH61 (Forestry)
		A - CH61A (Agriculture)
		B - CH61B (Recreation)
		Y - In Chapter 61 program, but specific land use unknown

8.  OWNERSHIP ABBREVIATIONS

Field		Code/Description
FEE_OWNER (FO)		eg. M<town-id> SD= Town of <town-id> School Department
MANAGER		eg. M004 = Town of Adams
OTHER_1		eg. M004SD = Town of Adams school department
OTHER_2		MGLT = Mount Grace Land Trust
OTHER_3		DR = Deed Restriction. May be term limited or in perpetuity.
		(A file containing all abbreviations used in these fields, such as SD and MGLT above is available upon request.)

9. ACQUISITION SUPPORT  PROVIDED BY THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS

Field		Code -Description
EOEAINVOLV		1 - a. Fee ownership or other legal interest held by an EOEA agency or
		b. DCS contributed or administered acquisition monies
		2 - Conservation restriction registered with DCS and not held by an EOEA agency

ARC CODES

Field		Code - Description
CODE		1 - Town boundary
		2 - Road
		3 - Stream
		4 - Pond or lake shore
		5 - Coastline
		6 - Train line
		9 - Not sure if feature is coincident

MassGIS is maintaining this datalayer. See List of Recent Updates. Any updates or corrections sent to MassGIS will be verified and incorporated into the datalayer. Please refer to the OS_ID when informing us of incorrect data. Anyone wishing to volunteer to gather information for their town for inclusion in this datalayer should also contact MassGIS at (617) 626-1076.

Last Updated 1/13/2004
EOEA Disclaimer | Privacy Policy