Cecil D. Andrus Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is a Idaho wildlife management area in Washington County, from

Cambridge, Idaho Cambridge is a city in Washington County, Idaho, United States. The population was 328 at the 2010 census, down from 360 in 2000. It is the second largest city in the county, behind the significantly larger Weiser, the county seat. Geography Ca ...

. The WMA was formed in 1993, when the Mellon Foundation purchased the Hillman Ranch and deeded it to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game for wildlife conservation. The WMA now manages additional lands as well, primarily from the

Idaho Department of Lands The Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) is a state-level government agency of Idaho that manages State Trust Lands. IDL oversees forestry practices on state lands and some regulation of mining practices, as well as administering forestry programs and ...

, but also from

Payette National Forest The Payette National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in central western Idaho, in parts of Valley, Idaho, Adams, and Washington counties. The land area consists of approximately 2.3 million acres (9,300 km2) of federally managed ...

and the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

. It is named for

Cecil D. Andrus Cecil Dale Andrus (August 25, 1931 – August 24, 2017) was an American politician who served 26th and 28th List of Governors of Idaho, governor of Idaho, for total of fourteen years. A Democrat, he also served as United States Secretary of the I ...

, a former

U.S. Secretary of the Interior The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natural ...

who also served four terms as

Governor of Idaho A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

Bull elk bugling during the fall mating season

The WMA is located along the

Brownlee Reservoir Brownlee Dam is a hydroelectric earth fill embankment dam in the western United States, on the Snake River along the Idaho-Oregon border. In Hells Canyon at river mile 285, it impounds the Snake River in the Brownlee Reservoir. It is part o ...

on the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...

near the Oregon border. Mule deer and

elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

are the most common big game animals in the WMA, but many other species including bighorn sheep and golden eagles can be found there.

References

{{Protected Areas of Idaho Protected areas established in 1993 Protected areas of Washington County, Idaho Wildlife management areas of Idaho