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B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Preston

47% of Preston’s land is conserved: 1,500 acres

51 acres are parks and preserves, 29 per 1,000 residents. 13% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 2.6 miles of mapped trail cross Preston, 0.5 per square mile of land.

Ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Conserved land
47%
1,500 acres · of 5.0 sq mi of land
Trails
2.6 mi
0.5 per sq mi of land
Park land
51 ac
29 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
13%
of residents within ½ mile

What kind of outdoors town is Preston?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

Land that stays wild47% of the land is conserved; a typical Texas town, 2%.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Preston have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Preston is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.

B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Preston’s overall grade.
Conserved land47% of the land · typical TX town 2% · U.S. 4%A+Trails0.5 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (3 mi) · TX 0.2 · U.S. 0.4BPark land29 acres of park per 1,000 residents (51 acres) · TX 9 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home13% of residents within a half mile of a park · TX 69% · U.S. 72%C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 70%
LessMore

Few Texas towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Preston’s 47% is ahead of 99% of Texas towns, while its trails per square mile lead 72% of them.

Water is 38% of Preston’s area (3 of 8 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 29%.

How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. 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.

1
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.

Island View Park

Park
50 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yetWebsite ↗
Who protects it

1,500 conserved acres

47% of Preston’s land. Water is left out: Preston has 5.0 square miles of land and 3.1 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Preston’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Army Corps of Engineers1,359 ac
Joint141 ac
Not recorded141 ac
Other Easement · 1,387 acFederal Other or Unknown · 141 acConservation Easement · 113 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1,359 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 5 of 6 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Texoma
Federal Other or Unknown
Not recorded141Open
Things to do

9 places to go in Preston

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Campgrounds in Preston
Preston Bend Recreation Area
Directions
Trails & water

4 named trails

Named trails
Unpaved · 2.1 mi
Bamboo Trail1.1 mi
Pine Trail0.4 mi
Beach Path0.2 mi
Prayer Walk0.1 mi
When to get out

April is the best month for walking in Preston

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)10.110.911.913.013.914.414.213.412.311.310.39.9
High (°F)535866748189949487766455
Rain (in)2.32.53.63.75.54.32.82.73.64.13.03.2

January is the driest month (2.3 in) and August the warmest (highs of 94 °F). 5.5 inches fall in May, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 94 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Preston →

Questions about parks and trails in Preston

How much of Preston is conserved land?

47% of its land, against a typical 2% for a Texas town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Preston’s trails?

Island View Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Is there public land near Preston?

5,452 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Preston or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 166 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Preston have?

Ahead of 70% 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 Preston neighbors.

Town Square →
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 →