Brooks Town Forest
Nature preserve
110 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Nyttend · Public domainCOutdoors
Outdoors in Brooks
Few parks or trails are on the map in Brooks
15% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 3.2 miles of mapped trail cross Brooks, 0.1 per square mile of land. 16 acres are parks and preserves, 13 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 31% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
3%
491 acres · of 24.7 sq mi of land
Trails
3.2 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
16 ac
13 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
15%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
846 ft
Oak Hill
Lakes & rivers
6
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Brooks have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Brooks is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Brooks’ overall grade.
Conserved land3% of the land · typical ME town 6% · U.S. 4%B−Trails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (3 mi) · ME 0.7 · U.S. 0.4CPark land13 acres of park per 1,000 residents (16 acres) · ME 15 · U.S. 13B−Parks close to home15% of residents within a half mile of a park · ME 30% · U.S. 72%C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 31%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C− 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
491 conserved acres
3% of Brooks’ land. Who manages Brooks’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits763 ac
Regional agency110 ac
Agricultural Easement · 385 acUnknown Easement · 378 acLocal Other or Unknown · 110 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 382 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 5 of 7 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Former Brooks Town Forest Local Other or Unknown | Regional agency | 110 | Restricted |
Things to do
7 places to go in Brooks
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Brooks
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Peaks in Brooks
Oak Hill846 ft elevation
DirectionsTaggert Hill817 ft elevation
DirectionsPond Hill814 ft elevation
DirectionsSkyscraper Hill673 ft elevation
DirectionsNorton Hill610 ft elevation
DirectionsHedgehog Hill551 ft elevation
DirectionsTrails & water
1 named trail and 6 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Snowmobile ITS 831.9 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
1Basketball
1Baseball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →2 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Brooks: May to September
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) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| High (°F) | 28 | 31 | 40 | 52 | 64 | 72 | 78 | 77 | 69 | 57 | 45 | 34 |
| Rain (in) | 3.8 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 5.2 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
February is the driest month (3.1 in) and July the warmest (highs of 78 °F). 5.2 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Brooks →
Next door
Brooks and its neighbors
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooks | 3% | 0.1 | 13 | 15% | C |
| Knox | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Monroe | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Waldo | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Jackson | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Brooks
How much of Brooks is conserved land?
3% of its land, against a typical 6% for a Maine town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Brooks’ trails?
Brooks Town Forest and Brooks Community Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Brooks?
1,046 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Brooks or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 16 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Brooks have?
Ahead of 31% 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 Brooks 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 →