Carver - Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a true conservationist. Back in the 1930s and ‘40s, he implemented a program to help reforest great expanses of the nation in order to reverse the ever-growing soil erosion problem.  Commonly known as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), this civilian army of 3,463,766 million young men, veterans and Native Americans also served to put out-of-work folks back into employ through the program.  It is estimated that 100,000 of these young men served in Massachusetts in areas familiar to most of us between 1933 and 1942, Myles Standish State Forest (MSSF), Freetown-Fall River State Forest, Nickerson State Park and Wrentham State Forest all benefited from their efforts.  Literally billions of trees were planted as 800 parks and forests were created across the country.

CCC workers, sometimes referred to asRoosevelt’s Tree Army, Tree Troopers and Soil Soldiers, also stocked ponds and lakes with millions of fish, placed erosion control products on farmlands, fought fires, revegetated ranges, restored 3,890 historic structures, and built hundreds of thousands of roads and trails. They also helped develop mosquito controls, wildlife management and riverbank and streambank erosion control. The CCC also created many of the camping areas currently in use.  The Friends of Myles Standish State Forest and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) are joining together to host a community-wide celebration in honor of the CCC at the MSSF headquarters to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the CCC. They are seeking local folks who served in the CCC so they may be presented with recognition awards for their years of service.