34 MISC. PUBLICATION 290, U. 8S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
the projects and supervises the execution of the work. For those 
camps on State and private forest lands, supervision is carried on 
through the State forestry departments. 
The C. C. C. program as conceived in 1933 embodied two major 
purposes: Restoration of confidence and rebuilding physical health 
of young men hard hit by the economic depression; and the accom- 
plishment of this through work designed to improve the public 
values of natural resources. ‘The work has resulted in the protection, 
development, and improvement of existing forests, prevention of soil 
erosion and flood damage, the spread of knowledge of soil-erosion 
control and good forestry measures, and the establishment of new 
forests through protection and reforestation. The Forest Service 
estimated that in 4 years its program was advanced 15 to 20 years 
by the emergency conservation work. 
Accomplishments of the C. C. C. on forest lands include: 
1. Protecting the forests against fire. This involved the building of thousands 
of miles of telephone lines, the opening up of thousands of miles of firebreaks 
through forested areas, and the clearing of thousands of miles of roadsides and 
trailsides as a fire-prevention measure; the construction of many hundreds of 
lookout towers for fire detection; and the reduction of fire hazards on more 
than a million acres. 
2. Campaigns to control rodent destruction (important on many western 
national forests), and against losses caused by insects and tree and plant 
diseases, notably the gypsy moth, white-pine blister rust, and Dutch Elm disease, 
covering millions of acres. 
3. Construction of many thousand miles of service roads and truck trails 
through timbered areas, principally for fire protection. 
4. Forest stand improvement work completed over several million acres. 
5. About 1,300,000,000 trees planted on denuded areas or eroding lands up to 
January 1, 1988. 
6. Improvement of national-forest ranges through revegetation, eradication 
of poisonous and other harmful plants from many thousand acres, and con- 
struction of reservoirs and watering places for stock, and of thousands of miles 
of stock fence. 
7. Improvement of public campgrounds, the development of several thousand 
wells and springs and of many lakes, ponds, and beaches, as well as the con- 
struction of more than a thousand dams for recreational use. Of interest to 
recreationists and of importance to wildlife are the several thousand ponds for 
fish and birds constructed by the C. C. C. 
8. Control of erosion and destructive water fiow on thousands of acres by 
planting or revegetation of eroding areas following construction of check 
dams and other minor engineering works in gullies. 
Other work done by the C. C. C. includes timber-estimating sur- 
veys; construction of foot, horse, vehicle, and stock bridges; erection 
of tool houses and boxes, and other structures necessary to national- 
forest administration, protection, and development. 
In addition to construction work, the C. C. C. spent hundreds of 
thousands of man-days in maintenance work on telephone lines, fire- 
breaks, and truck trails, and as organized fire-suppression crews 
in fighting fire. 
The training received by C. C. C. enrollees in a wide variety of 
forest work and special techniques has resulted in the advancement 
of many to the rank of leader, and often into positions on the super- 
visory staffs. Following creation by the President of a new civil- 
service rating—junior assistant to technician—several hundred for- 
mer C. C. C. youths were appointed to this position. This move 
represented an opportunity to ambitious and able young men to 
advance within the corps itself. It carries a substantial raise in pay 
