You asked for information on the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps located in Connecticut as part of the depression era program. Specifically you asked for program history and details about the number of camps and men who were involved.

THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS

The Civilian Conservation Corps (sometimes called Roosevelt's tree army) was a depression era employment program established by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The program used unemployed men to work on natural resource conservation projects. It ran for nine years from 1933 to 1942 and among other things is credited with planting over three billion trees.

Responding to massive and demoralizing unemployment, President Roosevelt called Congress into emergency session in March of 1933 to pass the Emergency Conservation Work Act, which included the CCC. His plan was to put unemployed males all over the country to work on conservation projects such as forest preservation, tree planting, mosquito control, soil conservation, irrigation, biological and plant surveys, and a variety of park projects. The CCC helped respond to natural disasters such as wildfires, floods, blizzards, and hurricanes (including the hurricane that hit Connecticut in 1938).

Initially the CCC was open to unemployed and unmarried males age 18 to 25 whose families were on some form of government relief. They were paid $30 a month ($25 of which would be sent directly to their family). Later the criteria for enrollees were broadened to accommodate (1) certain veterans, (2) American Indians, and (3) experienced and special skills workers. Within about two years of its creation, the program reached its maximum enrollment of about 500,000.

The CCC enrollees were organized into over 2,600 camps. The army ran the camps while the departments of Interior and Agriculture were responsible for selecting, developing, and managing the conservation projects.

In 1937, with enrollment down to around 300,000 Roosevelt tried unsuccessfully to persuade Congress to turn the temporary relief program into a permanent agency. Congress refused and three years later refused to renew its funding. The program ended in 1942.

CCC IN CONNECTICUT

According to Marilyn Aarrestad of the DEP, Connecticut had 21 camps over the life of the program. We could not find an estimate of the total number of men that served in Connecticut, but according to Aarrestad, each camp had approximately 250 men who served for six-month hitches with the option to re-up for additional terms. Thus, at a minimum over 5,000 men served. But this figure is probably very conservative because on average the camps were open for slightly over five years so the 250 slots probably turned over several times. A more realistic estimate may be closer to 15,000 men.

According to research conducted by Wayman and Ann Wells and available on the CCC homepage, the Connecticut projects were all related to either state parks or private forests (Available at: http://www.cccalumni.org/states/connecticu1.html). Table 1 lists the camp name, company number, location, and opening and closing dates.

Table 1: CCC Camps in Connecticut

* Based on DEP Data

Additional information about CCC camps and projects in Connecticut is available at the North East States Civilian Conservation Corps Museum located in the former headquarters building of Camp Conner in the Shenipsit State Forest in Stafford Springs. The museum has CCC photographs, documents, uniforms, and personal letters. Currently the museum is open only in the summer.

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