Land Acquisition Grants
THE PRISCILLA ALDEN SEARS MEMORIAL FUND
Phyllis Sears entrusted the remainder of her estate to The Cape Cod Foundation “for preservation of open space and wildlife habitats and to provide care for injured or displaced animals and birds.” Per her instructions, in 2023, we established The Priscilla Alden Sears Memorial Fund in honor of her mother and have awarded numerous grants focused on her special interests.
In 2025, we piloted a land acquisition grant program and awarded $50,000 grants to the Dennis Conservation Trust for the expansion of the Plashes Conservation area and to the Provincetown Conservation Trust for the purchase of the Josephine Del Deo Memorial Woodland.
Because of the pilot’s success, we offered this grant opportunity again in 2026, recently awarding $200,000 to four local nonprofit organizations: Bourne Conservation Trust, Buzzards Bay Coalition, Harwich Conservation Trust, and Orleans Conservation Trust. The land acquisition grants have helped conserve 77 acres of open space on Cape Cod.
To date, we have distributed nearly $465,000 from this fund. Its assets have grown to over $6 million and will provide resources in perpetuity.
“Nature is not a place to visit, it is home.”
— Gary Snyder
“The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
– John Muir
2025 Grants
13.45 ACRES AT PLASHES CONSERVATION
Dennis Conservation Land Trust
To support the acquisition of 13.45 acres in Dennis Port to protect sensitive habitats, expand access to nature, and enhance 44.7 acres of adjacent open space. Located in a Massachusetts-designated Environmental Justice Community, the project will preserve critical resources, such as an Atlantic white-cedar swamp, while increasing equitable opportunities to experience nature.
.64 ACRES AT JOSEPHINE DEL DEO MEMORIAL WOODLAND
Provincetown Conservation Trust
To support the acquisition of .64 acres at Josephine Del Deo Memorial Woodland. This parcel is a rare, undeveloped woodland along the Provincetown Greenway, which is in the State’s BioMap Core Habitat, the highest ranked designation for wildlife habitat diversity, quality, and persistence.
2026 Grants
7.34 ACRES AT 940 COUNTRY ROAD
Bourne Conservation Trust
To support the acquisition of 7.34 acres at 940 Country Road, connecting trails and wildlife habitat across multiple, adjacent, conserved properties. The parcel consists of rolling forest land abutting a 50-acre forest owned by Barnstable County and protected by a Conservation Restriction held by the Town of Bourne Conservation Commission. It borders cranberry bogs that link to the Bourne Conservation Trust’s trail network at its Red Brook Pond Conservation parcel.
50 ACRES AT BUTTERMILK BAY
Buzzards Bay Coalition
To support the acquisition of 50 acres at Buttermilk Bay, safeguarding significant, valuable natural resources and enabling protection and restoration efforts. The acquisition will help create a contiguous 2,000-acre block of conservation land that is highly vulnerable to fragmentation from increasing development pressures. This parcel includes a BioMap 3 Core Habitat and will protect forested uplands, critical wetlands, and retired cranberry bogs slated for restoration to natural wetlands adjacent to Bourne’s Buttermilk Bay.
2.3 ACRES AT SIX PONDS-HAWKSNEST WOODS
Harwich Conservation Trust
To support the acquisition of 2.3 acres at Six Ponds-Hawknest Woods, enabling the creation of a new trailhead that will connect to an extensive network of trails across the adjacent 400-acre landscape, including town conservation land, existing conservation trust holdings, and Hawksnest State Forest. This purchase will permanently protect critical woodlands within the Six Ponds Special District of the largest and most ecologically significant remaining assemblage of undeveloped land and pond shoreline on Cape Cod.
3.78 ACRES ALONG CEDAR POND SHORELINE
Orleans Conservation Trust
To support the acquisition of 3.78 acres along the Cedar Pond Shoreline, expanding an existing 12-acre block of protected land, and strengthening a key wildlife corridor connecting Cedar Pond to an Atlantic White Cedar swamp. Permanent protection will safeguard water quality, preserve freshwater shoreline habitat, and provide much-needed public access. The acquisition will provide the first formal public access to Cedar Pond, which is within walking distance of the Cape Cod Rail Trail, Orleans Town Center, and nearby affordable housing.
Together, we have invested more than $113 million in grants and scholarships in the Cape Cod Community. For good.
Stay Connected
Subscribe to our Enewsletter +
What Matters to You!
Cape Cod Foundation
508.790.3040
261 Whites Path, Unit 2
South Yarmouth, MA 02664
info@capecodfoundation.org
