Places to go for a walk

For more than 15 years, the Wellfleet Conservation Trust (WCT) and two Wellfleet-town committees have worked in partnership to provide walking trails on designated conservation lands. All of these trails are outside of the Cape Cod National Seashore and the Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary of Mass Audubon who have some of their own nice trails. On the WCT website, see the down-loadable map called “Wellfleet Open Space and Conservation Lands” for all the conservation land in town.

WCT works most closely with the Open Space Committee (OSC) which is charged with evaluating town owned lands and designating additional lands for acquisition for conservation purposes, including installation of trails, i.e. “passive recreation”. The OSC has had its eye on currently town-owned land which would have a best use as conservation land whether just for pure conservation purposes without trails, or with trails. The OSC then works through Town Meeting to get the land placed under the care and custody of the Conservation Commission (ConsCom).

This has been a very effective partnership leading to trails on eight of the areas designated for conservation. In these areas, the underlying lands are owned variously by WCT and the Town, under the care and custody of ConsCom. The underlying ownership divisions on the land are intentionally invisible so the public can enjoy the underlying conserved land without interruption. The land is cared for by feeownership for conservation purposes and protection under contractual conservation restrictions. In some places the land is owned by the Town with a conservation restriction held by WCT. In other places, it is the reverse. See the map below called WCT and Town Conservation Trails which shows the locations of these trails.

The partnership then maintains the trails through work parties consisting of the WCT trustees, and volunteers, along with members of the town committees. There are times when the efforts are greatly supplemented by the members of AmeriCorps of Cape Cod who bring skills and endurance through youth and contagious enthusiasm.

There are trail maps and guides, in hard copy, that are provided at various public locations such as the Library and Town Hall. Also, these trail maps and guides are available for download or printing from the WCT website.

Enjoy your walks in Wellfleet. There is a lot to appreciate.