Roosevelt's Tree Army: The Civilian Conservation Corps

Water Projects

Civilian Conservation Corps--Ferron--Camp F-11 Company 959--Crew Working for Forest Service

<h2>Reforestation and Nature Conservation Programs</h2>
CCC reforestation projects took place in state parks, national parks, and private land forests. The US Forest Service employed skilled woodsmen alongside the camp enrollees to assist with forestry programs. This had the benefit of providing essential guidance to young men who had not been out in nature for an extended time before, in addition to providing employment to local workers from the surrounding region.
The CCC also worked on nature conservation and wildlife protection programs. Leo Young worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps on the Bear River Bird Refuge, and commented in a 1972 oral history: “They’ve done a lot of good on the refuge. They hauled rock and the initial graveling of the dikes was done by the CCC boys. They hauled gravel on the dikes and smoothed the beaches. They also helped in gathering sick ducks, fencing, nesting surveys, and projects like that.”
One example of pest control as a conservation activity was the Mormon Cricket Project on Blue Mountain. The CCC built trenches to trap and exterminate Mormon crickets, flightless insects that can cause damage to crops and rangeland if they break out in large swarms.
Some of the programs that the CCC developed look counterproductive when compared against current environmental knowledge. Swamps were drained as part of mosquito control projects, which had negative effects on the wildlife of many areas. Soil erosion in the southern states was fought by planting the invasive plant kudzu as ground cover. Kudzu is popularly known as the “vine that ate the south.”

Civilian Conservation Corps reforestation, view 2 [graphic]

Nature Conservation and Recreation

History of the CCC

Enrollees

Camps for African Americans and Native Americans

Legacy

CCC boys surveying thinning area, Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library

National Archives and Records Administration

Thanks to the efforts of the CCC, recreation in state and national parks became more attractive to tourists. In 1935, the National Park Service oversaw the activities of 600 CCC camps that worked on developing both state and national parks. Small dams created lakes near campgrounds. The CCC built picnic areas, fireplaces, new park entrance stations, and new roads and trails that made the national parks more accessible.
The CCC men also built many basic tourist cabins as well as ranger stations and signage for the parks. In addition to developing the infrastructure for the parks, CCC park support activities also included cultivating plant nurseries and seed collection for revegetation. Hiking trails that are still in use today were originally cut by CCC men, including extensive work cutting granite blocks and laying trails in Acadia National Park in Maine.
The CCC completed the Colorado River trail in the Grand Canyon, along with many other structural improvements that are still in use today. These are just a few examples of the extensive work done in the national and state park system by the men of the CCC.

Civilian Conservation Corps employees threading pipe at Green Lakes State Park

The Civilian Conservation Corp, at work on the terracing of the Mountain Theater on Mount Tamalpais, 1936 [photograph]

Civilian Conservation Corps employees removing the original entrance road to Green Lakes State Park

Roosevelt's Tree Army: The Civilian Conservation Corps

National Parks and Forests

National Parks and Forests