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The small beach town of Cannon Beach just got 805 acres bigger. But don’t expect the population to grow along with it.

The city of Cannon Beach acquired the Ecola Forest Reserve, located just to the east of the town, on Tuesday in a land swap with the Oregon Department of Forestry. The parcel houses Cannon Beach’s watershed and will be preserved by the town in its natural state – forests and wetlands.

According to the state staff analysis of the land swap, Cannon Beach will protect the land to maintain the health of the watershed while also providing a natural area for recreational use close to the city center.

To acquire the land, the city had to have land to trade. So it bought eight parcels of land, totaling 720 acres, from the land manager Agency Creek Management Company. The eight parcels are located around various parts of Clatsop County. Once purchased, the land was transferred from the city to the department of forestry in exchange for the Ecola property.

The Ecola parcel is valued at $2.57 million, while the eight other parcels are valued at $2.52 million, according to the staff analysis. The state will use the eight parcels to continue its forest management program. The city will make up the different in a cash payment to the state.