DNR Celebrates 77th Anniversary Of The Civilian Conservation Corps

Annapolis, MD (March 24, 2010) — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) marks the 77th anniversary of the founding of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

The CCC was a federal program, part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal efforts to rebuild the national economy and conserve natural and historical resources across the nation, that was established in 1933 and ended in 1942.

“Our State continues to benefit from public facilities built in Maryland forests and parks by the Civilian Conservation Corps,” said Governor Martin O’Malley.

Nationally, about 3 million young men, organized into military-style companies commanded by U.S. Army officers, reclaimed millions of degraded acres of natural environmental resources across the nation. Many national and state forests and parks benefited from the CCC.

In Maryland, a total of 64 CCC camps employed over 30,000 young men on state, federal, and even private land. The CCC “boys” planted 4.4 million trees in Maryland, improved over 60,000 acres of forestland, reduced forest fire hazards on over 23,000 acres, and built almost 3,500 erosion control dams.

The CCC also developed the first major public amenities in Maryland state forests and parks. The CCC built campgrounds, overnight cabins, lakes and beaches, trails and picnic shelters, and other public recreational facilities from the lower Eastern Shore to the Trans Allegheny Western Maryland. It also restored two historic stone structures, Fort Frederick and Washington Monument in Washington County.

CCC enrollees received $30 a month and $25 of it was sent home to their families. The boys worked very hard, doing a lot of things by hand that, even in those days, could have been done by machine. The point was to keep them busy.

The army provided housing, food, clothing, medical care and discipline. Federal and state civilian officials provided work projects. Enrollees gained an average of ten pounds, all muscle, from the work they did, plus the good food and medical care.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2009, is the state agency responsible for providing natural and living resource-related services to citizens and visitors. DNR manages more than 467,000 acres of public lands and 17,000 miles of waterways, along with Maryland's forests, fisheries, and wildlife for maximum environmental, economic and quality of life benefits. A national leader in land conservation, DNR-managed parks and natural, historic, and cultural resources attract 12 million visitors annually. DNR is the lead agency in Maryland's effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay, the state's number one environmental priority. Learn more at www.dnr.maryland.gov