In 1948, Idaho had a problem: too many beavers in McCall and not enough in the remote wilderness where they were needed for conservation. The solution? They packed 76 beavers into specialized wooden crates, flew them over the Frank Church Wilderness, and dropped them out of planes with surplus WWII parachutes. A beaver named "Geronimo" was the test pilot who survived multiple practice jumps before the rest followed.

Boise sits on one of the most powerful geothermal systems in the country. We were the first city in the U.S. to use natural hot water to heat homes back in the 1890s. Today, that 177-degree water still flows through 20 miles of pipes to heat the State Capitol, City Hall, and over 90 downtown buildings. In fact, Idaho has the only State Capitol building in the United States heated by geothermal energy.

In 1986 Boise State University installed a blue artificial turf football field at Albertsons Stadium, making it the first football field in the world to be a color other than green. The blue field, nicknamed “The Blue” or “Smurf Turf,” has become an iconic symbol of the Broncos.

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