A Brief History
On August 14, 1948, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game began Beaver Drop, dropping Beavers by parachute into the central Idaho Chamberlain Basin.
Digging Deeper
Beavers were trapped live from Northwestern Idaho, the plan being to repopulate an area that once naturally held a Beaver population depleted by fur trapping. Also, Idaho residents in the Northwestern region had been complaining about Beavers wrecking their property and cropland.
Merely reducing the population of Beavers in Northwest Idaho was dismissed as environmentally unsound, as well as the tremendous value of the Beavers in other Idaho habitats. In all, 76 of the large aquatic rodents were parachuted into their new territory,
Not rigged like human skydivers, the Beavers were put in boxes that would automatically open upon landing. A big success, the program resulted in only one Beaver death when one of the critters chewed his way out of the box while still in the air.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What other animals have been parachuted?
If you liked this article and would like to receive notifications of new articles, please feel welcome to follow History and Headlines on Facebook and X!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Backhouse, Frances. Beavers: Radical Rodents and Ecosystem Engineers. Orca Book Publishers, 2021.
Goldfarb, Ben. Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2019.
