History of Sterling WMA

History

Sterling WMA is named after the town of Sterling, a farming community established in the early 1900s, located just northeast of the management area. The town site was laid out in anticipation of the flooding of the bottoms to the east by the American Falls Reservoir. 

Sterling seems to have absorbed some other small communities which had been located in or near the bottoms. A store, post office, and school were moved from the town of Otis, located in the bottoms to the southeast. A church from the community of Tilden was moved about the same time. 

The name “Sterling” was reportedly drawn from a hat and referred to the sterling quality of the soil in the area. The town thrived for a number of years but was becoming a ghost town by the late 1940s, probably due to continuing drought and the consolidation of services at neighboring towns such as Aberdeen. 

The wetlands in the area have long been recognized for their recreational value due mainly to the waterfowl they attract. Since the turn of the century, the character of the wetlands has varied. Water developments and management practices have constantly evolved beginning with the completion of the Aberdeen-Springfield Canal in 1910. This project brought water from the Snake River up onto the bench, which undoubtedly augmented various wetlands. More recently, drainage of wetlands, deep wells, and sprinkler irrigation have caused permanent, or at least seasonal, variations in the water table. 

Developments were initially concentrated on removal of unneeded structures and fencing, the replacement or addition of fencing to facilitate controlled grazing and prevention of trespass grazing, and the construction of parking areas. 

During the mid-1980s, work on the Orth and Johnson segments providing an additional 50 acres of wetland. The development of the Johnson Segment also included the drilling of a well, installation of an electric pump to augment natural flows into the marsh, and a barrier-free hunting/viewing blind. Also since 1985, the area boundary fences were marked and an extensive signing program was put in place. Six shrub shelterbelts have been planted and cared for through cooperative farming agreements and in conjunction with the Habitat Improvement Program. 

Wetland projects in the 1990s were in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation. Nine potholes were excavated on the American Game segment (1995), 10 were blasted on the Plunkett segment (1996), two were blasted on the Thompson segment (1996), and seven were blasted on the Fingal segment (1997). Also in 1995, and in response to neighbor concerns, a dike was constructed on the Wells segment to catch run-off from the Thompson agricultural land. 

Also in the mid- to late 1990s was an extensive program to reduce the number of Russian olive trees on the WMA. This action was in response to research that suggested predation on waterfowl nests by magpies was reducing nesting success to less than 3%. The high density of magpies was associated with the high density of Russian olive trees. Once the number of trees was reduced, nesting success for waterfowl increased. 

In the early 2000s, emphasis was on reclaiming older ponds that had grown in with emergent vegetation. Six ponds were excavated to increase the open water. An additional pond was excavated in the Orth segment in 2000. Two important nesting fields were burned to improve the vegetation, and three old agricultural fields were re-seeded to a grass mix. The new shop/headquarters for Sterling WMA was constructed in 2001. 

In 2011, the Aberdeen-Springfield Canal Company re-aligned the ditch that ran through the Johnson segment to bring it across the Vanderford segment, reducing impacts to Sterling WMA and a neighboring property. 

In 2013, the department cooperated with a neighbor to redirect the Orth Ponds drain. The resulting construction project kept an existing natural flow within Sterling WMA for an additional .25 miles and rerouted another .5 miles of stream onto the Sterling WMA which had been completely bypassing the WMA. The project has created additional wetland and allowed the neighbor to more efficiently farm adjacent agricultural ground.