CCC recruitment poster, 1939 (WHi-5762)

This New Deal work program established by the federal government on May 5, 1933, employed more than two million men aged 18-25 to conserve natural resources. In Wisconsin, they cleaned forests of slashings left by lumber companies, planted new trees, controlled forest fires, and helped build state parks. The program officially ended on July 30, 1942, by which time most of its participants had enlisted to fight in World War Two or had found other wartime employments.