When Beavers Flew

This fascinating picture book tells the unique, quirky, and true story of how one man in Idaho saved 76 beavers from destroying a town by parachuting them into uninhabited wetlands.In 1948, the town of McCall, Idaho was growing rapidly. World War II was over, and the little town tucked away in the mountains began to boom. There was only one problem. As the town expanded, they found beavers everywhere. A beaver here, a beaver there, and it didnÂ’t take long to realize that humans and beavers werenÂ’t great cohabitators. But one clever and resourceful Fish and Game Warden named Elmo Heter had an idea.Heter knew that the beavers were integral to the wetlands, so keeping the well-being of the beavers in mind he set out to find a way to relocate them. After a few failed attempts, he finally landed on a wild idea… parachutes. Using a surplus of parachutes left over from WWII and creating a special box with air holes designed to pop open when it hit the ground, Heter devised a way to parachute the beavers into IdahoÂ’s backcountry, an area that beavers hadnÂ’t inhabited in decades.Kirsten TracyÂ’s fascinating and playful nonfiction text pairs beautifully with Luisa UribeÂ’s detailed illustrations to bring this compelling true story to life.

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