Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge
Managed by United Sates Fish and Wildlife Service
30 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Eleutherian College · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainDOutdoors
Outdoors in Lancaster Township
Few parks or trails are on the map in Lancaster Township
0.6 miles of mapped trail cross Lancaster Township. 27% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 14 acres are parks and preserves, 14 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 14% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
10 acres · of 32.2 sq mi of land
Trails
0.6 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
14 ac
14 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
27%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
6
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Lancaster Township have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Lancaster Township is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
D
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Lancaster Township’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical IN town 2% · U.S. 4%DTrails0.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · IN 0.1 · U.S. 0.4C−Park land14 acres of park per 1,000 residents (14 acres) · IN 10 · U.S. 13B−Parks close to home27% of residents within a half mile of a park · IN 51% · U.S. 72%C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 14%
LessMore
Few Indiana towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Lancaster Township’s under 1% is ahead of 7% of Indiana towns, while its trails per square mile lead 20% of them.
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Lancaster Township. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
10 conserved acres
under 1% of Lancaster Township’s land. Who manages Lancaster Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits10 ac
Private Conservation · 10 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennywort Cliffs Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 10 | Open |
Things to do
2 places to go in Lancaster Township
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Lancaster Township
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
6 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
History along the way
History →2 places on the National Register, one a National Historic Landmark
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Lancaster Township: July and August
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.7 | 10.7 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.3 | 14.9 | 14.6 | 13.7 | 12.4 | 11.1 | 10.0 | 9.5 |
| High (°F) | 39 | 44 | 54 | 66 | 75 | 83 | 86 | 85 | 79 | 68 | 54 | 43 |
| Rain (in) | 3.4 | 3.0 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 5.0 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
February is the driest month (3.0 in) and July the warmest (highs of 86 °F). 5.4 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Lancaster Township →
Next door
Lancaster Township and its neighbors
Lancaster Township has the second most mapped trails of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster Township | under 1% | under 0.1 | 14 | 27% | D |
| Monroe Township | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Graham Township | 1% | under 0.1 | 188 | 14% | C |
| Smyrna Township | 3% | under 0.1 | 380 | 14% | C+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Lancaster Township
How much of Lancaster Township is conserved land?
under 1% of its land, against a typical 2% for an Indiana town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Lancaster Township’s trails?
Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Lancaster Township?
5,483 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Lancaster Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 14 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Lancaster Township have?
Ahead of 14% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Lancaster Township neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →