The Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District’s Williamsburg Forest (formally Demonstration Forest) is located in the small town of Williamsburg, Maine.  Williamsburg began in the late 1800s as a small farming community. The land that makes up the Williamsburg Forest once belonged to the Decker and Larson families and these families farmed the 180-acre parcel of land. These properties were abandoned during the Great Depression and then acquired by the U.S. Forest Service in the 1940’s. After great effort by the Piscataquis County Soil and Water conservation district Supervisors, the property was deeded to the district in 1980 and became an educational forest.

As you take a walk through the Williamsburg Forest and this historic farm site, you can visit the old Larsen and Decker homestead foundations and get a feeling of how they once lived and worked the land. You will traverse the once-farmed fields, which are now growing timber. Notice the old stone walls that once edged fields of crops. Also, you will see the upland forest areas that have been harvested in the recent past, which are now growing the next generation of forests.

The Williamsburg Forest provides an opportunity to explore an actively managed Maine community forest. We invite you to walk our interpretive trails through 180 acres of historic farmstead. As you wind through the trails, you will come across unique areas of headwater wetlands, which help to feed the Pleasant River, riparian areas, our own “canyon,” an enriched hardwood site, a Tamarack/Red Pine plantation and remnants of historic homestead sites.

Forest Management is an integral part of our Williamsburg Forest and you may see evidence of an active harvest operation. Please stay on marked trails and away from the machinery.

Use your senses to discover the numerous songbirds, small mammals and amphibians that inhabit these areas. Sign of the elusive white-tail deer are everywhere, and lucky quests may catch a glimpse as these graceful animals bound out of sight. Our Williamsburg Forest was highlighted in the Maine Birding Guide as a wonderful site for bird watchers and lovers.

Visit our outdoor classroom and take-in the beautiful view. If you dabble in geocaching, be sure to check out our geocache site(s) along the trails.

The Williamsburg Forest is open to the public year-round. The trails offer great snowshoeing and cross country skiing in the winter, and great hiking, exploring and nature-watching in the Spring, Summer and Fall.

We hope you enjoy your visit to our Williamsburg Forest!

There is much to learn at the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD)’s Williamsburg Forest! You can pick up lots of interesting, useful information from our interpretive signs along our trails. Additionally, the PCSWCD is available to host groups – schools, home school groups, clubs, etc. – for day programs designed to further explore our natural resources.

If you are interested in participating in one of these educational programs at the Williamsburg Forest, please contact our Educational Coordinator at katherine.weber@piscataquisswcd.org.

The Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District has been involved with several projects at the Williamsburg Forest. With help from volunteers, granters, local organizations, business and many more, we have been able to transform the Williamsburg Forest into an open and inviting parcel of public land.

Here are some of the projects we have been involved in at the Williamsburg Forest

Forest Managed by Women has Little Known Trail Network near Brownville: Forest managed by women has little known trail network near Brownville – Piscataquis Observer (observer-me.com)

PCSWCD Receives Grants to Further Conservation Education & Enhance the Williamsburg Forest (2022/23): https://www.nacdnet.org/2022/07/25/woman-owned-woodlands-and-developing-the-next-generation-of-forest-landowners/

For more information about these projects or anything pertaining to our Williamsburg Forest, please contact us at the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District!