The Civilian Conservation Corps in Oregon: A Living Legacy

The Civilian Conservation Corps transformed Oregon’s landscapes, building lasting parks, roads, trails, and forest infrastructure.

Amid the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt formulated a bold plan for putting millions of unemployed Americans to work and restoring the nation's public lands. Between 1933 and 1942, over 86,000 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees worked on Oregon's national forests, state parks, and tribal lands. Their labor transformed the landscape and created some of the state's most beloved recreational areas.

The scale and scope of their accomplishments are staggering. In Oregon alone, the CCC built 50,000 miles of forest roads, 20,000 miles of trails, 3,000 acres of public campgrounds, 1,500 bridges, and hundreds of lookout towers. CCC crews risked their lives fighting epic wildfires and restoring Oregon's damaged forests. Today, it's almost impossible to travel around the state without encountering reminders of their legacy, from irrigation canals to ski lodges. This is the story of how they did it.