The Boise Hawks, an Idaho-based baseball team in the independent Pioneer League, will rebrand for one game as the Boise Battle Beavers. The temporary brand is a tribute to an innovative mid-20th century wildlife relocation program pulled off by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
In 1948, as beavers were losing their natural habitat to human expansion, Idaho officials decided to find a new home for the animals. The plan, attributed to an Idaho Department of Fish and Game employee named Elmo W. Heter, involved parachuting 76 beavers into a remote area of central Idaho called Chamberlain Basin.
While the team’s temporary brand features a free-falling beaver—perhaps Geronimo, the first beaver to make the jump—the actual “parabeavers” were dropped in boxes that opened automatically when they landed. The program, discontinued in the 1960s, was considered a success and has led to a sustainable beaver community in central Idaho.
The Boise Battle Beavers will take the field June 14.
