CCC Brief History

On March 14, 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corp began tree conservation. From the article:

"CCC Brief History

CCC enrollees throughout the country were credited with renewing the nation's decimated forests by planting an estimated three billion trees between 1933 and 1942. Today the legacy of the CCC is continued through the effort of thousands of young people who work on the same ground first restored by the men of the CCC.

President Roosevelt signing EWC legislation.The 1932 Presidential election was more a desperate cry for help than it was an election. Accepting the Presidential nomination on July 1, 1932, New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt planned to fight against soil erosion and declining timber resources by utilizing unemployed young men from large urban areas.In what would later be called “The Hundred Days,” President Roosevelt revitalized the faith of the nation by setting into motion a “New Deal” for America. One of these New Deal programs was the Emergency Conservation Work (EWC) Act, more commonly known as the Civilian Conservation Corps. With this action, he brought together two wasted resources: young men and land. The President wasted no time. He called the 73rd Congress into Emergency Session on March 9, 1933, to hear and authorize the program. He proposed to recruit thousands of unemployed young men, enroll them in a peacetime army, and send them into battle against destruction and erosion of our natural resources. Before the CCC ended, over three million young men engaged in a massive salvage operation described as the most popular experiment of the New Deal.The strongest reaction to the proposed CCC program came from organized labor. Union leaders feared a loss of jobs that could be filled with union members. Also, they were alarmed at the involvement of the Army and believed this might lead to regimentation of labor.
Emergency Conservation Work legislation passed on March 31, 1933
President Roosevelt promised if granted emergency powers he would have 250,000 men in camps by the end of July, 1933. The speed with which the plan moved through proposal, authorization, implementation and operation was a miracle of cooperation among all branches and agencies of the federal government. It was a mobilization of men, material and transportation on a scale never before known in time of peace. From FDR’s inauguration on March 4, 1933, to the induction of the first enrollee on April 7, only 37 days had elapsed. Senate Bill S. 598 was introduced on March 27, passed both houses of Congress and was on the President’s desk to be signed on March 31, 1933."