Protected Open Space Continues to Grow in Chester County

Posted May 20, 2026

Jake Michael, CCPC's Senior Demographer, recently reported on the amount of protected open space in Chester County, tracked annually through the Protected Open Space Tracking System (POST).

In 2025, the county added 1,385 acres of newly protected land, bringing the total to 156,566 acres — about 32.2% of all land in Chester County. At the end of 2024, that number was 31.9% — an increase of 0.3%.

The majority of this newly protected acreage came from agricultural land preservation board easements, followed by municipally protected open space, land trust easements, county parks, homeowner associations, and municipal recreational parks.

While the pace of preservation slowed in 2025, the commitment to doing so remains quite strong, resulting in steady growth in protected acreage each year. Chester County continues to lead our region in open space protection, with the most privately-preserved land in the entire 9-county Delaware Valley and roughly 50,000 more total acres than its closest competitor among the five southeastern PA counties.

Protecting open space is a main initiative in Chester County's Comprehensive Plan, Landscapes3, under the Preserve goal. As one of the main objectives' states to "Protect a significant portion of Chester County as preserved farms, open space, forests, public parks or nature preserves" — and we plan to do just that!

We're excited to see Chester County's protected open space continue to grow. View the most recent annual Protected Open Space Report.