Baker Project

Preserving the Little River

It’s official! After 23 years on the Town’s “watch list” the environmentally sensitive Baker Property in Cotuit has at last been preserved.

Barnstable Land Trust purchased the 5-acre Baker Property on June 27th and then three days later, the Town, through the Community Preservation Act, purchased a conservation restriction from BLT. According to Executive Director, Jaci Barton, “The Town’s purchase of the CR showed their support for the project. Ownership by BLT, together with a conservation restriction held by the Town’s Conservation Commission now makes protection of this property about as permanent as it gets!”

The Baker Property straddles the Little River and is part of the Little River Corridor, an 800-acre greenbelt and major open space zone in the Town’s Open Space Plan. A portion of the property falls in the Zone of Contribution to Cotuit’s public water supply. The abandoned cranberry bog, fringed by a classic Cape Cod forest of oak and pine provides valuable wildlife habitat.

Preservation of the Baker Property was made possible by 109 individual donors and grants from the William P. Wharton Trust, the Fields Pond Foundation and Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank Charitable Foundation. The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Conservation Partnership Grant Program, and the Town’s Community Preservation Act were major factors in the success of the Baker Project.

Special thanks to the Baker Family whose patience and commitment to conservation helped carry us through the years and to Richard Largay, who shepherded the project through the legal process.