The Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge is an important breeding area for mammals, birds, and other animals. The refuge is located on land surrounding Lake Lowell, just outside Nampa, Idaho. It serves as a resting and wintering area for birds, including mallards and Canada geese, along the Pacific Flyway.
The refuge consists of two sections which contains open water, edge wetlands, grasslands and riparian and forest habitats. The largest portion of the refuge consists of Lake Lowell and its environs, located in Canyon County, just west of Nampa, while the second comprises the Snake River islands located in non-contiguous localities along the river in Canyon, Owyhee, Payette, and Washington counties (Idaho) and Malheur and Baker counties (Oregon).
There is a visitor's center at the Lake Lowell site.
Birds of Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Idaho. Published by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Deer Flat NWR
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Deer_Flat/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_Flat_National_Wildlife_Refuge
The Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge is an important breeding area for mammals, birds, and other animals. The refuge is located on land surrounding Lake Lowell, just outside Nampa, Idaho. It serves as a resting and wintering area for birds, including mallards and Canada geese, along the Pacific Flyway.
The refuge consists of two sections which contains open water, edge wetlands, grasslands and riparian and forest habitats. The largest portion of the refuge consists of Lake Lowell and its environs, located in Canyon County, just west of Nampa, while the second comprises the Snake River islands located in non-contiguous localities along the river in Canyon, Owyhee, Payette, and Washington counties (Idaho) and Malheur and Baker counties (Oregon).
There is a visitor's center at the Lake Lowell site.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Deer Flat
National Wildlife
Refuge
Deer Flat National
Wildlife Refuge
provides a watery
oasis for resident and
migratory wildlife,
including spectacular
concentrations
of waterfowl.
About the Refuge
Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge
has two units, Lake Lowell and the
Snake River Islands. The Lake Lowell
Unit encompasses 10,619 acres,
including the almost 9,000-acre Lake
Lowell and surrounding lands. The
Snake River Islands Unit contains
about 1,200 acres on 104 islands.
These islands are distributed along
113 river miles, from the Canyon-Ada
County Line in Idaho to Farewell
Bend in Oregon.
Diverse Habitats
The Refuge provides a mix of wildlife
habitats, from the open waters and
wetland edges of Lake Lowell to
the sagebrush uplands around the
lake and the grasslands and riparian
forests on the Snake River islands.
The variety of habitats makes Deer
Flat NWR an important breeding
area for resident and migratory birds
and other wildlife. The Refuge is also
a significant resting and wintering
area for birds migrating along the
Pacific Flyway, including spectacular
concentrations of mallards and
Canada geese.
A System
of Refuges
Snow and Ross’s geese
USFWS
2
Deer Flat NWR is one of the oldest
refuges in the National Wildlife
Refuge System, which now includes
over 560 refuges. Managed by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the
System preserves a network of
lands and waters set aside for the
conservation and management of
the nation’s fish, wildlife, and plant
resources for the benefit of present
and future generations.
This blue goose, designed by
J.N. “Ding” Darling, has
become the symbol of the
National Wildlife Refuge System.
3
A Brief History
Early Settlers
F.C. Horn/Bureau of Reclamation
Creating Lake
Lowell
Before settlement, the land that
would become Deer Flat NWR was
a low-lying area with many springs.
In winter, herds of deer and elk
came from the mountains to eat the
abundant grasses. Early settlers
observing these herds dubbed the
area Deer Flat.
The reservoir was completed in 1908
at a cost of $2,500,000. Unfortunately,
local landowners greeted it with
outrage rather than cheers because
most of the water first used to fill the
reservoir either evaporated or leaked
out. Fortunately, the reservoir soon
began to hold water.
Needing water to irrigate crops,
settlers initially restricted their
settlements to land near rivers. In
the early 1900s, they began lobbying
and raising money for a reservoir. The
Bureau of Reclamation began work on
the Deer Flat Reservoir in 1906.
In 1945, Deer Flat Reservoir was
renamed Lake Lowell in honor
of James H. Lowell, who had
spearheaded efforts to establish the
reservoir in his position as president
of the local water users’ association.
Lake Lowell is now one of the largest
off-stream reservoirs in the American
West, with the capacity to irrigate
over 200,000 acres of land.
Between 1906 and 1908, two large
and two small earthen embankments,
or dams, were built to contain the
reservoir. The Upper Dam was
constructed using a smallgauge train to haul, dump,
and compact the material.
Horse teams were used
on the Lower Dam.
Workers also constructed
a diversion dam on the
Boise River and enlarged
the New York Canal,
which brings water from
the Boise River to the
reservoir.
Establishment
of the Refuge
Left: Deer Flat
steam shovel
Below: Horse
teams compacting
the dam
F.C. Horn/Bureau of
Reclamation
4
With the reservoir completed,
President Theodore Roosevelt
realized that a nearly 9,000-acre
lake in an arid region would be
an oasis for wildlife, so he created
Deer Flat NWR in 1909, just three
days after water started flowing
into the reservoir through the New
York Canal. The Refuge remained
unstaffed until 1937, when 36 islands
in the Snake River were added
to protect a riparian corridor for
wildlife. Through land purchases,
donations, and other land-acquisition
methods, the Refuge
eventually expanded to
about 11,800 acres.
5
Seasons of Wildlife
A Brief History continued
Spring
Bureau of Reclamation
In the 1930s, a Civilian Conservation
Corps camp was established at
the Lower Dam and grew to over
100 corpsmen, who spent many
years quarrying lava rock to face
Civilian
both dams. Crews from the Works
Conservation
Progress Administration also worked
Corps crew working on Refuge projects. Some created
on parapet wall
nesting islands in
the eastern portion
of the lake, while
others would “line
up shoulder to
shoulder and walk
around the lake
pulling or digging
up…undesirable
plants.” Both of these
programs ended with
the start of World
War II.
Refuge Visitor
Center built by
the Job Corps
In the early 1970s,
Job Corps students
from the nearby
center in Marsing,
Idaho constructed
many of the current
Refuge facilities,
including the
Visitor Center, shop, a residence,
and facilities at the Lower Dam
Recreation Area.
Resident Canada geese set up nesting
territories on the Snake River islands
in early March, and goslings h
NOTE: Eagle, osprey, and grebe nesting closures are not depicted on the map
because the areas can change from year to year. Watch for signed closures on
land as well as on the water.
Brownlee
Reservoir
95
Weiser
Snake
River
Islands
Unit Ontario
Vale
20
Washington
County
Payette Payette
County
Gem
County
26
Nyssa
52
Emmett
Malheur
County
16
ak
e
Riv
20
Caldwell
er
26
Boise
55
Nampa
95
OREGON
55
44
Canyon
County
IDAHO
Sn
78
Owyhee
County
Snake River
Islands Unit
45
Lake
Lowell
Unit
Ada
County