Protected Open Space Continues to Grow in Chester County
Posted April 21, 2025
The Chester County Planning Commission tracks the county's amount of new protected open space each year through the Protected Open Space Tracking system, or POST, for short. The numbers indicate the new acreage added for the previous year (in this case, 2024) and are reported the following Spring.
Let's take a look at the 2024 numbers, which were just released at CCPC's April board meeting!
As reported by CCPC's Senior Demographer, Jake Michael, there were 154,970 acres of protected open space, or 31.9% of the county, preserved as of December 31, 2024. This shows an increase of 2,590 acres in 2024 (from 31.4% in 2023, to 31.9% in 2024), which is a typical increase compared to recent years.
Some highlights of 2024 include:
- County-funded Agricultural Conservation Easements accounted for 502 acres of protected open space
- Land trusts preserved 89 acres in-fee, and 695 acres through conservation easements
- Homeowners associations (HOAs) protected over 720 acres
- Municipal non-recreational open space protected 496 acres
The POST information is entered by land trusts, municipalities, and other state and local agencies, and therefore must be regarded as estimates.
Chester County is known for its hundreds of acres of open space, and we hope to see these numbers continue to grow for years to come!