We need to stop calling this destination the Brownfield Bog as it is now named the “Major Gregory Sanborn Wildlife Management Area” and has been for over a dozen years.
Friday, Feb. 20, 2026 – Easy – Brownfield Bog (360 ft. elev), Brownfield, ME – 2.0 mi round trip (RT), 0 ft. elevation gain. RT hiking time 2.5 hours. RT driving 0.5 hours. Meet at the church at 8:30 AM
This is a big place where we’re headed this week. This wildlife management area (WMA) contains about 5,920 acres of diverse habitats, including many wetlands, rivers, and ponds, as well as upland habitats. The WMA is located in the towns of Brownfield, Fryeburg, and Denmark.
The bog’s name was changed to honor Major Gregory Sanborn, who had been the second-in-command of the Maine Warden Service when he died in 2013 at age 47 from cancer. A Fryeburg native, he’d served in the Maine Warden Service for 23 years. The WMA’s name was changed later that same year to honor his service.
Here is a more detailed description of the area that Allen Crabtree sent out just short of a year ago:
“The Major Gregory Sanborn Wildlife Management Area wasformerly known as the Brownfield Bog. It is a 5,700-acre wildlife management area fed by the ambling Saco River and is considered one of the top birding spots of interior New England, especially during the spring warbler migration and early breeding season. The State of Maine has designated this as a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (DIF&W) specifically manages the WMA for waterfowl. The department maintains one hundred nesting boxes here to encourage nesting. About 1/3 mile from the parking area is an old wooden building, said to once store dynamite when the Saco River channel improvements were being made. I’ve never been able to confirm this story ……
“In the summer the WMA is a popular canoe and kayaking destination along the Saco and its smaller tributaries. The WMA is made up of mostly shallow wetlands with emergent marshes, bogs and shrub wetlands bordered by stands of mixed hardwoods. Bird watchers comment that marsh bird diversity is exceptional, waterfowl numbers are excellent, and hawks, upland game birds, warblers, and forest birds are also present.”
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