NaturalAreas2023

Natural Areas are generally the region’s least developed and most sensitive areas. These identified areas comprise natural shoreline, barrier beaches, banks, and dunes, areas with highest habitat value and natural landscapes, undeveloped lands in wellhead protection areas, buffers to wetlands and vernal pools, and undeveloped areas subject to flooding. The vision for Natural Areas is to minimize adverse development impacts to sensitive resource areas, to preserve lands that define Cape Cod’s natural landscape and contribute to its scenic character, and to improve the Cape’s resilience to severe storms and the effects of climate change. Natural Areas are lands with the highest significance for resource protection or conservation and are appropriate for permanent protection through acquisition and conservation restriction or for transfer of development rights to less vulnerable areas. The Commission identified these areas by mapping BioMap Core Habitat and Critical Natural Landscapes, vernal pools and the 350-foot buffer of vernal pools, protected open space, wetlands and the 100-foot buffer to wetlands, undeveloped lands in wellhead protection areas, and undeveloped lands in FEMA flood zones.