In an inspiring middle grade nonfiction work, P. OâConnell Pearson tells the story of the Civilian Conservation Corpsâone of Franklin Delano Rooseveltâs New Deal projects that helped save a generation of Americans.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in March 1933, the United States was on the brink of economic collapse and environmental disaster. Thirty-four days later, the first of over three million impoverished young men were building parks and reclaiming the nationâs forests and farmlands. The Civilian Conservation CorpsâFDRâs favorite program and âmiracle of inter-agency cooperationââresulted in the building and/or improvement of hundreds of state and national parks, the restoration of nearly 120 million acre of land, and the planting of some three billion treesâmore than half of all the trees ever planted in the United States.
Fighting for the Forest tells the story of the Civilian Conservation Corp through a close look at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia (the CCCâs first project) and through the personal stories and work of young men around the nation who came of age and changed their country for the better working in Rooseveltâs Tree Army.