Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
Managed by United States Fish And Wildlife Service
11,500 acres13.7 mi of trail
Johnson Brook TrailNorth Buzzy Brook TrailSpruce Loop TrailOak Point Trail+1
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the trailhead
Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0B−Outdoors
Outdoors in Milford
More than half of Milford’s land is conserved: 54%
54% of Milford’s land is conserved, about 15,731 acres. The biggest trail networks: Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (13.7 mi). 1 acre is park or preserve, 0.3 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 52% of U.S. towns · #84 of 143 in Maine. What drives it
Conserved land
54%
15,731 acres · of 45.6 sq mi of land
Trails
30 mi
0.7 per sq mi of land
Park land
1 ac
0.3 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
30%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.3 mi
0.3 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
3
1 boat launch
What kind of outdoors town is Milford?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Milford have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Milford is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns, #84 of 143 in Maine. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.
B−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Milford’s overall grade.
Conserved land54% of the land · typical ME town 6% · U.S. 4%A+Trails0.7 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (30 mi) · ME 0.7 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land0.3 acres of park per 1,000 residents (1 acre) · ME 15 · U.S. 13DParks close to home30% 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 52%
LessMore
Maine towns of 2,500+ (143)Ahead of 42%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. 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
The longest trail network is Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, with 13.7 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
15,731 conserved acres
54% of Milford’s land. Who manages Milford’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service23,076 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits12,475 ac
Regional agency26 ac
State parks8 ac
Town or city1 ac
Not recorded25 ac
National Wildlife Refuge · 23,076 acPrivate Conservation · 8,313 acConservation Easement · 4,162 acLocal Other or Unknown · 53 acState Other or Unknown · 7 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1 acre is a conservation easement, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 5 of 12 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 23,076 | Restricted |
| Bradley-Sunkhaze Preserve Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 8,313 | Unknown |
| Unknown Local Other or Unknown | Regional agency | 26 | Unknown |
| Miscellaneous Municipal Land Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 17 | Unknown |
| Miscellaneous Municipal Lands Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 8 | Unknown |
| Great Pond Lower Penobscot State Other or Unknown | State parks | 7 | Unknown |
| Bradley Local Other or Unknown | State parks | 1 | Closed |
| Milford Playground Local Park | Town or city | 1 | Open |
Things to do
2 places to go in Milford
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Milford
1 boat launch without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Scenic views in Milford
Observation PlatformIn Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
DirectionsTrails & water
11 named trails and 3 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 1.6 mi
Johnson Brook Trail3.9 mi
North Buzzy Brook Trail2.8 mi
Haynes Ridge Trail2.5 mi
Interconnected Trail System 842.5 mi
Birch Stream Trail2.0 mi
Spruce Loop Trail1.6 mi
Oak Point Trail1.4 mi
South Buzzy Brook Trail0.8 mi
Balsam Trail0.7 mi
Snowmobile Trail 5c Bradley0.4 mi
1 more trails
Ash Landing Trail
0.1 miLakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.3 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.3 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
1Basketball
1Soccer
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 Milford: 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) | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 12.5 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.8 |
| High (°F) | 28 | 31 | 40 | 53 | 66 | 75 | 80 | 79 | 70 | 58 | 45 | 34 |
| Rain (in) | 3.4 | 2.5 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 4.2 |
February is the driest month (2.5 in) and July the warmest (highs of 80 °F). 4.7 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Milford →
Next door
Milford and its neighbors
Milford has the second most mapped trails of the 4 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Questions about parks and trails in Milford
Where can I hike in Milford?
The longest trail networks: Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, 13.7 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Milford is conserved land?
54% 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 Milford’s trails?
Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Milford?
0.3 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.3 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Milford?
5,411 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Milford or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 1 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Milford have?
Ahead of 52% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #84 of 143 in Maine. 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 Milford 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 →