Forestry and Agriculture Sites

The WPA conducted work at Hagerman Fish Hatchery. The extent of the WPA's involvement in the site is not clear.

The Fountain Green State Fish Hatchery was first developed as a New Deal project, constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The hatchery is still in operation in a new building at the same site.  The original hatchery shed from the New Deal still exists but is in deteriorating condition on the lower part of the site.

The WPA was involved in building this fish hatchery in Sandpoint.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted $1,375 in improvement work on the "federal fish hatchery" in San Angelo, Texas. Living New Deal believes this to be what became known as Fish Hatchery No. 1, a property now managed by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Charles Cruz: "No. 1 was located at the southern end of town near the Goodfellow AFB. It was constructed in 1929 and was one of the first state-run hatcheries built in Texas, producing walleye, channel catfish, largemouth bass and sunfish. The hatchery ceased operation in the late 1980s, and reopened in the early 1990s only to...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted improvement work, ca. 1936, at what is now known as the Essex County Fish Hatchery in Crown, Point, New York.

"The men of the Civilian Conservation Corps completed many worthwhile projects... cleaning out of springs, installation of water troughs, repair of buildings at the Verdi Fish Hatchery and the construction of a new rearing pond."

The Paris Fish Hatchery was the second Michigan fish hatchery. Opened in 1881, it supplied salmon and brown trout fingerlings to the state. It was expanded and renovated by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the mid-193o's and operated until 1964. After closing, it was acquired by the Mecosta County Park Commission and reopened as a park in 1976.

A Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) side camp, also known as spike camp, operated at Fish Lake in the Willamette National Forest during the from 1934 to 1939. Side or spike camps allowed the CCC to locate its workers closer to their job sites on special projects and forest fighting. In the case of the Fish Lake CCC camp, workers from CCC Camp Mary Creek (Company 2907) and CCC Camp Belknap (Company 927) were moved to the area during the construction season to improve the operation of the Fish Lake Guard Station for its packing operation. This involved building additional corral space...

By constructing several buildings and the necessary facilities for management of mules and horses, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers played an integral role in  transforming the Fish Lake Guard Station into the Fish Lake Remount Depot. To operate in the rough terrain of the surrounding national forest and nearby wilderness areas, the Forest Service depended on pack animals. The CCC located a side camp at Fish Lake from 1934 - 1939 to improve the Depot for this purpose while assisting in fire fighting and development of recreation opportunities in the Willamette National Forest as well. In 2016, the Fish Lake Remount...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was active in Rocky Mountain National Park during the whole of the program's lifetime, 1933 to 1942.  There were four main camps in the park. The CCC participated in a fish-restocking program, which the National Park Service had initiated in 1931 to deal with depleted lakes and streams due to years of unregulated fishing.  The main contribution of the CCC was to build four fish-rearing ponds, at Horseshoe Park, near Endovalley campground, at Hollowell Park, and near Grand Lake. The ponds were roughly 200 x 100 feet and 10 feet deep. (Brock, p 42). Fry from the Estes...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was quite active in Grand County, Utah.  Four CCC camps were established in and around Moab, the county seat.  The first was the Warner Lake Camp, F-20, in 1933 under the US Forest Service, which also ran camp PE-214.  These camps worked principally on road construction and flood control on Mill Creek.   The biggest and longest lived of the CCC camps in the county was the Dalton Wells Camp, DG-32, running from 1935 to 1941.  That camp operated under the Division of Grazing of the General Land Office (predecessor of the Bureau of Land Management), working around...

This small, rustic structure was built by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers as the administrative building for Oregon’s CCC headquarters. Today it serves as the Forest History Center of the Oregon State Department of Forestry. Oregon had as many as fourteen CCC camps under the jurisdiction of the State’s Forester during the corps’ operation between 1933 and 1942. When plans for construction of a State Forest Department headquarters began in 1935, a 4.5 acre site had already been acquired to the east of Salem to accommodate the state's CCC headquarters.  Located on the eastern banks of Mill Creek, the CCC headquarters...

This WPA project included the headquarters building and multiple hatchery ponds. The hatchery became one of the largest producers of fish for the state's waterways.

A manned fire station in the San Bernardino National Park. The supervisor said that the site was once a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp. However, no structures from the original camp survive except for a crumbling square concrete foundation near the outdoor workout area.

Between 1936 and 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook forestry work in Farmington, New Hampshire, to clear the area of currant and gooseberry bushes. Below is a detailed list of the work undertaken: 1936 WPA funds expended: $2,550.26. Area covered: 2,182 acres. Currant and gooseberry bushes destroyed: 59,743. Number of men employed: 18. 1937 WPA funds expended: $1,188.20 Area covered: 1721 acres Currant and gooseberry bushes destroyed: 62,200 Number of men employed: 8 1938 Area covered: 1545 acres Currant and gooseberry bushes destroyed: 28,216 Number of men employed: 9 1940 WPA funds expended in New Durham, with Farmington labor: $786.96 Area covered: 1,002 acres Currant and gooseberry bushes destroyed: 24,892 Number of local men employed: 7

The Works Progress Administration completed pine blister eradication work in the town of Bethel. 1936 Below is a United States Department of Agriculture report of white pine blister rust for the Town of Bethel, year 1936. "Acreage worked, 4254 Crew man hours, 6652 Bushes destroyed. 48,094 Amount spent for labor, $2,932.16 Amount spent for crew transportation, $240.96 This year has completed the mapping of all the pine growth in Bethel. This project has furnished employment for 14 men during the summer months and four men during the winter. The town has contributed nothing toward this project." 1937 Below is a United States Department of Agriculture...

Dating from WWI, Fort Dix provided training for soldiers enlisted in the U.S. Army. According to a Works Progress Administration (WPA) Information Division document, the WPA engaged in “Campwide improvement to grounds, including grading, checking of soil erosion, improvements to drainage to eliminate mud, and clearing fire trails and brush; construction of target pits and machine gun range, landing field, one mile of railroad. Construction or repair of garage, motor repair shop, schools, tent floors, incinerator, sawmill, woodshop, quarters, storage buildings, mess hall, cold storage plant, hospital, airport buildings, disposal plant, improvements of water supply system, clearing of ditches...

Fort Niobrara NWR - Valentine NE Fort Niobrara Wildlife Refuge was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 by Executive Order.  The principal aim was to protect bison and elk herds which had dwindled almost to extinction under the pressure of market hunting in the 19th century.  It was created out of the old frontier Fort Niobrara and today covers almost 20,000 acres of grasslands and riparian forest in Nebraska. In October 1933, the CCC began work in the refuge. A number of projects were identified, including a big game fence measuring twenty-one miles, a seven mile four-wire stock fence, fire prevention...

Fort Winfield Scott served as a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) training and supply facility. Between 1933 and 1939, Fort Mason, which was under Fort Scott’s command, was the supply center for the several hundred CCC camps on the Pacific Coast. Fort Winfield Scott was also the first stop for CCC rookies. Here, they received their enrollment certificates and standard-issue equipment, and did their first drills, before moving on to camps throughout California. Included in this entry are primary source materials from artist Leon Bibel, who was enrolled and discharged from the CCC at Fort Winfield Scott. The materials include Bibel’s CCC...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) is primarily responsible for building the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge (FWNC&R) which is located just inside the city limits of Fort Worth, TX. CCC Company 1816, Lake Worth Camp SP-31-T served in this area from 1934-1938. It's projects planned and supervised by the National Park Service included roads, bridges, bridle paths, nature trails, picnic areas and stone shelter houses.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted work on the fish hatchery shown in the WPA photo above. The caption notes the location of this hatchery as being in Fortsville, New York. Fortsville is a hamlet located in the town of Moreau in Saratoga County. The Living New Deal does not know the current status or location of this project.  

Development of a "truck trail," as fire roads were called, was the first priority of the members of #2908 at Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Nehalem when the camp opened in 1935. The camp was located on the edge of the Tillamook Burn. The Tillamook Burn of 1933 was the first of four successive, large forest fires in the northern Oregon Coast Range (1933; 1939; 1945; 1951) that destroyed thousands of acres of what was then private forest land. The 1933 fire burned through 240,000 acres, creating conditions that fueled future fires. At the time of the first fire, vehicle access...

CCC 130th Company Baxter State Park: Foster Field (Millinocket Maine) (June 1934 – October 1934) Excerpt from Schlenker, In The Public Interest: On June 1, 1934, the 130th Co. moved from Alfred to Baxter State Park and Mt. Katahdin. Field work was placed under the State Park Service, and Forestry #SP2 was assigned to this camp. At Mt. Katahdin, the work was recreational, including the building of trails, camp sites, cabins and dams. In a newspaper article by Kenneth Fuller Lee, dated October 7, 1934, the significance of the 130th Co. stay at Baxter Park is described. “Last June the boys of the 130th Co....

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made extensive improvements around Mt. Tamalpais – a favorite hiking spot for San Franciscans all the way back to the Gold Rush era (1850s). A major feature of this work was a new fire lookout tower on the east peak of the mountain, which is in the Marin Municipal Water District area.  Built of native stone and wood,  the tower still stands.   As the plaque notes, the tower was renamed in 1937 in honor of the chief warden of Tamalpais Forest Fire District, who led the fight against a major fire in 1929 and died July 13,...

"Five hundred acres of the 1,200 acre tract were to be used for farming, and the remaining portion for 200 houses on 1/2 acre plots, a community school, a factory building, a poultry yard and modern water and sewer plants. ...terms were reached with the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union when it was agreed that the Jersey Homesteads factory would be a new cooperative run by the settlers themselves, so would remove no union jobs from New York. Jersey Homesteads was set up as a triple cooperative, comprised of a farm, retail stores and a factory. The farm, consisting of general, poultry...

A Texas historical marker erected in the park in 2007 explains the CCC's involvement in the park's development as follows: "CCC Company 879 began its work at Camp SP-42-T (Garner State Park) in April 1935. During the first phase of development (1935-37), construction included the main entrance portal and road, and the keeper’s lodge. In 1937, the CCC began construction on the heart of the new park, the combination building, known as the Pavilion, and a dance floor, on a high bluff near the Frio River. The building architecture, known as NPS (National Park Service) Rustic, utilized native limestone and wood...

The Civilian Conservation Corps built a camp, dam, stone overlook, and other structures in General Butler State Park (Butler Memorial Park) in Carrollton KY.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Co. No. 2421 SP was created at Geneva State Forest in what was previously cleat-cut land, part of a land holding of timberlands owned by the Jackson Lumber Company. The lumber company donated the land to the State of Alabama instead of paying property taxes on land they could no longer exploit.  The Geneva State Forest was originally known as C.C.C. Co. No. 2421, SP-1. The camp was under the leadership of Captain M.G. Denton. According to Robert Pasquill, Jr. book, The Civilian Conservation Corps in Alabama, 1933-1942: A Great and Lasting Good the C.C.C. Co. No. 2421...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed Vermont's Gifford Woods State Park during the 1930s. "Development of Gifford Woods State Park began in 1933 by the Civilian Conservation Corps ...  In 1933 and 1934, CCC crews constructed the park office and ranger’s quarters, picnic area, stone restroom building, trails, the park entrance and parking area. In 1939 the CCC constructed a camping area."

The Civilian Conservation Corps Company 2915 (F-12) built a ranger station in the vicinity of Glacier, Whatcom County.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the ranger station in Glide OR at the confluence of the North Umpqua River and Little River, in 1938. The building style is wood and stone, with plank siding, a typical Forest Service rustic look. The little trees cut in the shutters are charming, and they seem to be a common feature around the National Forests and parks of the northwest. The building was refurbished and reopened as an information station in 1992. The modern North Umpqua National Forest ranger station lies just behind the CCC building.    

Mount Rainier was the nation's fifth National Park, established 1899. During the Great Depression the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps greatly aided the park's development. The CCC constructed numerous fire lookout towers, including that at Gobbler's Knob in 1933. Elevation: 5,485 feet. Wikipedia: "One of four fire lookouts remaining in the park, the lookout is used for visitor services during summer weekends. The building is about 14 feet by 14 feet, and was designed by the National Park Service Branch of Plans and designs under the supervision of Acting Chief Architect Edwin A. Nickel."

In 1934-35, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers stationed in the Bridger-Teton National Forest constructed five new buildings to create the Goosewing Guard Station, including a central dwelling, two gashouses, a barn and a garage. Originally built as a winter shelter for rangers monitoring elk grazing conditions, the U.S. Forest Service utilized Goosewing Guard Station until it fell into disrepair in the early 2000s. All five buildings were built following standard architectural plans created by U.S. Forest Service regional architect George L. Nichols. Because of Nichols’ contributions to the region in the 1930s (made possible through New Deal funding and labor), the majority...

"Camps were set up at several locations in the valley, at Leigh Lake, Lizard Point, and "Hot Springs" near Colter Bay. In 1934, Camp NP-4, the most prominent camp, was built at the south end of Jenny Lake. CCC crews manned this camp through 1942. Civilian Conservation Corps laborers worked on a variety of projects. The Superintendent's Report for August 1936 listed the following: landscaping headquarters; improvement and development of a campground at Jenny Lake; construction of fireplaces; construction of barriers at Jenny Lake campground; construction of table and bench combinations at Jenny Lake; construction of permanent employees' dwellings headquarters; extension...

"Grandview Lookout Tower stands over 80 feet in height. The tower was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936 in order to locate forest fires in their early stages of development. The tower is part of a series of fire watch structures including Kendrick Mountain and Bill Williams Mountain lookouts that survey the northern portion of the Kaibab National Forest. The tower is still staffed today during fire months in the summer and is open to visitors during that time. The view from the top includes a large portion of the Grand Canyon and nearby San Francisco Peaks and...

Humboldt Redwoods State Park was established in 1921 with purchases of some of the last remaining Old Growth stands of Coast Redwoods by the Save the Redwoods League. It has since been expanded several times and now includes over 51,000 acres, of which 17,000 are old growth redwood stands.   California did not establish a state parks system until 1928, and little improvement work had been done at Humboldt Redwoods before the New Deal.  When the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) arrived at Dyerville camp in 1933, the young men got to work right away developing the state park.  The CCC enrollees immediately...

Shelterbelts were natural windbreaks planted to protect land from the dust storms of the 1930s. The Great Plains Shelterbelts spans several states. The agency that started the project is unknown to the Living New Deal, but the project was transferred to the Works Progress Administration because of a dispute over the source of funding. Today, very few of the Depression-era shelterbelts are left, but a few trees remain of the shelterbelt built on the McFarland Ranch.  McFarland Ranch is a private property southwest of Cimarron. The ranch is south of the Arkansas River and the trees were originally irrigated by the Arkansas...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park occupies large areas of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. The park’s creation was a decades-long process, including advocacy in the late 19th century; legislation signed by President Calvin Coolidge in 1926; and donations and land acquisitions from small donors, the governments of North Carolina and Tennessee, and charitable organizations, such as the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund. Once the park’s existence was firmly established, funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) and labor from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made it both accessible and accommodating to the public. President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the park on...

"During the Great Depression (1929-1939), the New York State Department of Conservation (under the administration of then-governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt) and later the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the park's roads, buildings, cabins, golf course and trails. CCC camps for project SP-12 were created on the property of the park. CCC company 1203, and subsequently 2211 (a company of veterans of the 1898 Spanish–American War), were assigned to the project. These men hauled loads of sand from Sylvan Beach (on nearby Oneida Lake) to create a sandy beach; they dug the basements of the park buildings by hand. The CCC...

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont during the 1930s. "The Depression-era legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps (established in 1933 as part of Roosevelt’s “New Deal”) is reflected on the Forest. At one time during the 1930's there were 5 active CCC camps on the Forest (Mt Tabor, Weston, Peru, West River and Rochester).  The men at these camps built roads, trails and campgrounds, fought fires, planted trees and generally established much of the infrastructure of the early National Forest. Today a few of the buildings and many of the features, travel ways and landscapes...