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Idaho Fish and Game

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Wildlife Management Area
Camas Prairie - Centennial Marsh WMA
Before you go

Camas Prairie - Centennial Marsh WMA is a high prairie, seasonally-flooded wetland. Thousands of people visit the Camas Prairie - Centennial Marsh WMA each year to enjoy birding, camas lilies, and hunting. The greatest number of visits occur in late May to early June to observe the Camas Lily bloom. County roads provide easy access to the WMA. There is no designated camping and limited public facilities.

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Overview

Duck heaven! The Centennial Marsh area earned this name because at one time it supported thousands of breeding and nesting waterfowl. The acquisition and management of the WMA properties ensured waterfowl and shorebirds would continue to have breeding and brooding habitat. 

The WMA is inundated by water from mid-April to mid-July, and 70% of Centennial Marsh is covered by one foot or less of water. This creates the dense vegetation that attracts large numbers of waterfowl and other water-based birds. Bird watchers visit the area throughout the spring and summer. For nature photographers, it is a birding paradise. 

The use of the WMA during spring waterfowl migration is solely dependent on when the spring thaw occurs. During a mid-March thaw in 2013, an estimated 3000 northern pintail, 1000 snow geese and 500 tundra swans used the marshes. A more typical mid-April thaw is too late for these early migrants.  However, shorebirds generally migrate though early and-May and take full advantage of the marshes. 

Historically, the Camas Prairie was the principal camas root gathering area and summer hunting grounds for the Bannock, Shoshoni, and Northern Paiute tribes. Today, the Camas Lily bloom in late May is one of the most visited and photographed time of year on the WMA.

Location Facts

Primary Purpose:  Aquatic and upland habitat for breeding, nesting and feeding waterfowl and shorebirds

Habitat:  Grassland, sage-steppe, wetland 

  • 6,240 acres
  • Camas County
  • Established in 1987
Location Things to Know

Maintained gravel roads provide access to and through the WMA.

Limited public facilities include an outhouse, picnic table and a few shade trees at a single location on the WMA.

Access Information

Maintained gravel roads provide access to and through the WMA. Limited public facilities include an outhouse, picnic table and a few shade trees at a single location on the WMA.

Resources
Hunting

During the hunting seasons, elk, pronghorn, and sage grouse are harvested on the WMA every year. The WMA falls in Game Management Unit 45 and the Smoky-Bennett Elk Zone.

Even though thousands of waterfowl use the WMA, there is limited waterfowl hunting.  This is due to the early freeze-up of marshes and wetlands that coincides with the waterfowl hunting seasons.

Trapping

Furbearer trapping is allowed on the WMA. 

Wildlife Watching

Bird watchers visit throughout the spring, summer, and fall.  

The WMA is popular with nature photographers. The Camas Lily bloom in late May is one of the most visited and photographed time of year on the WMA.

Education

Annual education tours are conducted for students, ranging from elementary school classes through college.