Planting more than trees: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the roots of the American environmental movement, 1929--1942

This dissertation examines the transformation of the American conservation movement during the Great Depression and New Deal era. It does so by analyzing the history of the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and explains how the CCC and the environmental changes caused by its conservation work during the 1930s and early 1940s altered American thinking concerning the natural world. In a broader historical context, it argues that Franklin Roosevelt's CCC played an instrumental role in bridging the transition from Progressive Era conservation to post-World War II environmentalism. The CCC fostered this shift from conservation to environmentalism on two different, yet related, levels. First, the Corps popularized the Progressive Era conservation movement, which had been led by an elite cadre of scientific professionals, government bureaucrats, and wealthy businessmen, all of whom were interested above all in the efficient production of natural resources. The second way the CCC helped bridge the conservation and environmental movement was by helping to redefine conservation itself to include issues related to wilderness preservation, ecological balance, and outdoor recreation, all of which became central to postwar environmentalists. Thus, by both popularizing conservation and broadening its concerns, the CCC not only planted trees but also helped sow the seeds of the American environmental movement.