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WCU - Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

CCC camp enrollee

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  • The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was established in 1933 as a public works program during the Great Depression. Initiated under newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the CCC was often called “Roosevelt’s Tree Army” for its focus on conservation. FDR used existing agencies—the departments of War, Labor, Interior, and Agriculture—to quickly launch the program. Within 6 months of FDR’s inauguration, there were 250,000 recruits. By the time of its closure in 1942, the CCC had provided paid work, vocational education, food, shelter, and clothing for 3 million young men. Besides reforestation at a variety of locations, the program helped build America’s national parks. There were 22 camps located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park who did forestry work, fire prevention, surveying, plant eradication, erosion control, bridge building, flood control, insect control, campground construction, and landscaping.

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Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

This digital collection was created to contribute to the public's understanding of the forces and ideas that led to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934. The most vi...

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