Beaver drop was a 1948 Idaho Department of Fish and Game program to relocate beavers (Castor canadensis). The program involved moving 76 beavers by airplane and parachuting them to new areas in Central Idaho. The program was initiated to both reduce cost and decrease mortality rates during the relocation. Background People had been moving from cities to areas with beavers. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game decided to move 76 beavers because the new residents complained about beavers cutting down trees and creating dams. The Fish and Game Department understood that beavers help with the wetlands, they helped reduce erosion, and they create habitat for birds and fish, so they wanted to move them to other areas of the state. An April 17, 1939 Time magazine article recognized the important work that beavers had been doing in Idaho since the United States Department of the Interior began relocating beavers to the state in 1936. They estimated that the cost of relocating a beaver was (equivalent to $ dollars in ) and the estimated value of a beaver's work was (equivalent to $ dollars in ). Transporting the beavers by land was difficult and costly and also resulted in the death of some beavers. The previous transportation method for moving beavers entailed trapping beavers and then delivering them to a conservation officer. Next the beavers would be loaded onto a truck, and transported to the areas of relocation. Beavers were then boxed and strapped onto a horse or mule to be carried over land. This resulted in beavers overheating and becoming stressed. Parachuting The goal was to move beavers from the McCall and Payette Lake areas of Idaho to the Chamberlain Basin in central Idaho. One Idaho Department of Fish and Game employee named Elmo W. Heter came up with an idea to use leftover WWII parachutes and lidless wooden boxes to fly the beavers to the area. Two boxes with breathing holes were fitted together like a suitcase and hinged. Heavy elastic bands were fastened to the bottom of the box and extended up the sides of the box; they formed double springs which would snap open the box upon landing. The boxes were launched between and . Ropes held the boxes together until the box landed and the box automatically opened. The design was tested with a beaver nicknamed Geronimo. Two beavers were put in each x x