From Railroad Tracks to Refuge Road

From Railroad Tracks to Refuge Road. . The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), what began as a Depression era work program, became an important building block to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Wildlife Refuge System. In 1939, seven thousand Corps participants worked at 35 camps in 27 states and helped create 53 new national wildlife refuges., The CCC housed their workers in large camps that helped change barren land into vibrant wildlife areas. Workers improved wildlife habitat by constructing nesting islands and planting vegetation for marshes and forests. The workers also constructed fire lookout towers, roads and service buildings, making refuge management easier for refuge managers and safer for wildlife. The CCC was instrumental in making improvements to wildlife conservation efforts in the U.S., Nationally, during its nine year existence, more than 3,000,000 young men, primarily between the ages of 18 and 26, enrolled in the CCC. The enrollment period was for six months, although many re-enlisted when their six months were up. They were paid $30 a month, $25 of that was sent directly to the men's families. The enrollment peaked in 1935, when there were 500,000 men in 2,600 camps located in every state of the Union. These young men created the infrastructure for valuable national treasures – wildlife refuges and national parks. CCC work also benefited wildlife on land administered by other land management agencies such as the Office of Indian Affairs, the Division of Grazing and the Bureau of Reclamation., From 1933 to 1942, eight million acres were acquired for wildlife and conservation usage. The Corps played a vital role in converting previously unused land to valuable wildlife habitat. Though most of the CCC camps no longer exist, the legacy of the workers lives on in the wildlife refuges and national parks they helped create. The CCC camp at Rice Lake was dismantled in 1941, but the effects of the camp live on today., [Caption:] The Rice Lake CCC camp (#2705), constructed in 1939 and dismantled in 1941, was home to 200 young men. One of the first projects the workers took on was to remove railroad tracks laid to transport virgin timber to local sawmills and to convert it into a road. The Refuge's main entrance road and part of the Wildlife Drive follow the old railroad.