Fighting for the Forest: How FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps Helped Save America
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About this ebook
When Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in March 1933, the United States was on the brink of economic collapse and environmental disaster. Thirty-four days later, the first of over three million impoverished young men were building parks and reclaiming the nation’s forests and farmlands. The Civilian Conservation Corps—FDR’s favorite program and “miracle of inter-agency cooperation”—resulted in the building and/or improvement of hundreds of state and national parks, the restoration of nearly 120 million acre of land, and the planting of some three billion trees—more than half of all the trees ever planted in the United States.
Fighting for the Forest tells the story of the Civilian Conservation Corp through a close look at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia (the CCC’s first project) and through the personal stories and work of young men around the nation who came of age and changed their country for the better working in Roosevelt’s Tree Army.
P. O’Connell Pearson
P. O’Connell Pearson has always taught history—first in the high school classroom and then as a curriculum writer and editor across grade levels. Ready to share her enthusiasm for stories of the past in a new way, she earned an MFA in writing for young people from Lesley University and now writes narrative nonfiction for ages ten and up. Her books have received recognition from Bank Street, NCSS, the New-York Historical Society, Arizona Library Association, and more. When Pearson is not writing about history, she can often be found talking about history as a volunteer with the National Park Service in Washington, DC.
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Reviews for Fighting for the Forest
4 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When FDR was inaugurated president, the country was mired in the Great Depression with unemployment at 25%. The dire state of the country is what enabled FDR’s proposal for a Civilian Conservation Corps to be planned and passed by Congress with bipartisan support in four weeks. Young men across the country applied for jobs that would support and conserve the country’s dwindling natural resources. This included building roads, bridges and fire lookout towers, planting trees, improving state and national parks, and restoring the barren soil of the Dust Bowl. The CCC legacy lives on today in the popularity of national parks, the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the foundation of organizations such as the Wilderness Society and the National Wildlife Federation. Presents a holistic and diverse history of the CCC: Author well establishes the Great Depression and Dust Bowl as the backdrop and impetus: high unemployment, homelessness, malnutrition. Pulls together varied aspects of the program and its impact. Looks at social perspective: POC workers and the discrimination they faced; workers of different backgrounds meeting and working together; young, untrained men learning discipline and gaining self-worth; impact of traditional gender roles on seeking help (prideful men). After laying out the state of things, author shows how the CCC helped turn around the workers’ lives and self-worth, gaining important work skills, making contributions with their work. Addresses the state of the environment at the time: clear-cutting of forests, drought
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I found this book very inspiring -- I so think we need a tree army right now, too. It is very focused on young men of the time, because that is the nature of the times, but I appreciate that the author took time to address the areas the program fell short -- segregation, discrimination, and the people who were actively fighting both those forces at the time. I really did not appreciate the scope of what they were setting out to do and what they achieved. It's astonishing.