WILDLIFE -- More than half a century after a group of beavers parachuted into the Idaho backcountry, officials have uncovered footage of the quirky wildlife management moment and digitized the film for YouTube.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game was struggling with an overpopulation of beavers in some regions in the 1940s when wildlife managers settled on a novel idea. They captured beavers and other furry rodents, packed them into special travel boxes, attached parachutes and dropped them from a plane into the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.

The plan was outlined in a 1950 paper, Transplanting Beavers by Airplane and Parachute, by Idaho Fish and Game's Elmo W. Heter pointed out that beavers would be beneficial to fish and wildlife habitat in the state's abundant remote backcountry if a viable transportation method were devised.

Although the story has been told many times in newspapers and magazines, the film (see below) showing the beaver drops, made around 1950, had been lost, according to Boise State Public Radio.

Fish and Game historian Sharon Clark recently uncovered the fragile film, dubbed “Fur for the Future,” which had been mislabeled and stored in the wrong file.

The agency still traps and relocates beavers occasionally, although less dramatically by vehicle.

One project moves beavers to the Owyhee desert, in the state’s southwest corner, to help restore vegetation stripped away by years of watershed use. Wildlife managers say beavers will make ponds in the region, which can hold water year-round for the benefit of other wildlife and fish.