With caution, it is possible to paddle the entire Leaf River without portaging, as it contains no impassable waterfalls or non-navigable rapids.

[2] The Hudson's Bay Company fished there for salmon and porpoises, and opened a trading post at the mouth of the river around 1905.

The Leaf Herd in the west, near the coast of Hudson Bay, increased from 270,000 in 1991 to 628,000 in 2001.

[11] According to the Quebec's Natural Resources and Wildlife survey, the Leaf River Herd (LRH) (Rivière-aux-Feuilles) had decreased to 430,000 caribou in 2011.

[12][13] According to an international study on caribou populations, the Leaf River herd could be threatened with extinction by 2080.