We Can Take It: The Story of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the White Mountains

The Civilian Conservation Corps or CCC was one of the most successful federal government programs in our history and ran from 1933 -1942. This program will discuss the work of the CCC in the White Mountain region of New Hampshire and Maine. There were 21 CCC camps that were run by the US military and working for and staffed by the US Forest Service, New Hampshire State Parks and State Forests and even private forest products industry.  The setting was the Great Depression when one out of four Americans was out of work and financial collapse was common. When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office he immediately established a variety of programs including the CCC to put people back to work and improve our natural resources, parks and forests. We will take a look at the legacy of the CCC and learn about life in the CCC and their motto – “We Can Take It”.

David Govatski retired from the US Forest Service after a 33-year career that included 6 summers working as a Work Project Director at a residential Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) camp in Mount Tabor, Vermont. He was trained by CCC veterans and has had a long interest in conservation work and continues to work as an advisor with a variety of other conservation corps crews.