How white-tailed deer, beavers and loggers share a fascinating chapter in Idaho's natural history

Beavers and loggers have some obvious things in common, but beavers, loggers and white-tailed deer are linked in Idaho’s natural history in significant ways you might not expect. 

Beavers were among the main reasons for early explorers to travel into Idaho, and when early fur trappers arrived, they found beaver-rich river systems across Southern Idaho. Beavers thrived in the rivers and tributaries and did what beavers do best – built dams. Those dams created a lush river bottom and riparian environment in Southern Idaho’s arid landscape, which created good habitat for whitetails. 

Trappers removing a large segment of the beaver population altered that river bottom habitat. Settlers keyed on whitetails as a food source, and also converted those prime river bottoms into agriculture lands, all of which caused whitetail populations in the southern part of the state plummet. 

That’s in stark contrast to modern Idaho where whitetails are largely associated with the Panhandle and Clearwater regions, but that’s a fairly recent phenomena in Idaho’s history. 

Whitetails were once much more sparse in the northern parts of the state, but as that region was settled, logging was an important industry. Removing the dense forest canopies (along with huge wildfires) opened vast swaths of habitat across the region and ushered in a proliferation of white-tailed deer, which are now the predominant deer species north of the Salmon River. 

There’s much more to the story than beavers, trappers and loggers. You can learn about how Idaho’s whitetail populations evolved, how Idaho Fish and Game has managed this species for decades, and why they continue to be a vital part of Idaho’s rich big game hunting. 

Watch Fish and Game’s Panhandle Region Wildlife Biologist Kenny Randall’s presentation to the Fish and Game Commission exploring this fascinating look at the history of Idaho’s white-tailed deer.