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Virtual Tours

Experience Greenbelt Reservations & Programs

Learn about Ospreys, vernal pools, beavers, pollinators, sea level rise, and Greenbelt’s climate partnerships. Take a virtual tour with drone video, photographs, and the history of our properties.

Sea Level Rise & Coastal Flooding

Over the past 50 years, Essex County has experienced 16 declared flood events, the most of any county in Massachusetts.

Sea level rise, intense rain storms: The worst is yet to come


Climate Partnerships

To maximize our efforts, Greenbelt partners with agencies and environmental organizations who are also actively working on climate change issues.

What’s Being Accomplished


Osprey Program

Greenbelt monitoring Osprey activity north of Boston almost 20 years ago. To date, more than 115 individual nesting sites have been documented, many located on wooden platforms installed by Greenbelt, others on buildings, utility poles, channel markers, and in trees.

Four focus areas of Osprey Conservation                    


Castle Neck River Reservation

The 32-acre reservation in Ipswich features an all-access trail that leads to sweeping vistas from the scenic viewpoint.

Explore trail loop, hay fields, winding river and salt marsh  


Pollinators

Land conservation is a great way to help pollinators. Maintaining open space and protecting it from development ensures pollinators have a place to nest and feed.

Bees, Butterflies & Hummingbirds Play a Part


Beavers in Essex County

Beaver activity is beneficial to the ecosystem. Beaver dams can act as natural filters for the water flowing through them, improving water quality in the streams and larger bodies of water downstream. 

The Benefits of Beavers


Allyn Cox Reservation

The Cox Reservation in Essex is surrounded by The Great Marsh, the largest salt marsh ecosystem in New England.

Great Marsh: A Critical Habitat


Vernal Pools: Essential to Life

They may look like big puddles, but the seasonal pools of water that fill with snowmelt, rain, and spring’s rising groundwater play an almost magical role in the cycles of life.

A Critical Breeding Ground


Cox Reservation Resilience Planning

As our climate is rapidly changing and sea levels are rising, the Cox Reservation faces many threats; the worst being flooding.

Climate-based Management Plan