Civilian Conservation Corps

The CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and the Reforestation of Michigan
Thurs., November 19, 2009 - 7:30 pm - 9 pm
Whitman Room, Heritage Park

Presented by Rob Burg, Site Historian for Hartwick Pines Logging Museum and the Michigan C.C.C. Museum, Michigan Historical Museum System.

The cutting of the white pine was the most important industry in Michigan in the Nineteenth Century and made more money in Michigan than the gold industry of California. From 1840-1910 Michigan’s “Green Gold” helped to build the United States of America into one of the leading economic and industrial powers of the world. Economically, this industry was very beneficial for Michigan, but the environmental impact was devastating and is still being felt today, almost a century after its end.

Thankfully, at the time of the end of the lumber industry, there was a move throughout the nation and in Michigan to begin the reforestation of the cutover lands. Although the big timber will never be here again, Michigan now has as much forest as we once did. This program will illustrate how the reforestation effort began in early 1900s with the establishment of the Higgins Lake and Houghton Lakes State Forest Reserves and the start of the Higgins Lake Nursery in 1903. Thirty years later, this effort really took off with the manpower of the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1933-42. “Roosevelt’s Tree Army” would plant 484 million trees in Michigan in an effort to reforest our two peninsulas, fight and prevent forest fires, and do so much more conservation work as well.

From this work, Michigan’s forests help to keep the waters of our state pristine, provide habitat for wildlife, allow for a variety of recreation and support a sustainable forestry industry.

Rob Burg has been the site historian/museum sites manager for the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum at Hartwick Pines State Park in Grayling and the Michigan CCC Museum at North Higgins Lake in Roscommon since 1998. Besides being an environmental historian of Michigan’s forests, Rob experiences these forests through backpacking, snowshoeing and kayaking. Rob has his Bachelor’s degree in History from Eastern Michigan University and also attended the Historic Preservation graduate program at Eastern Michigan.

Admission: $5, FOC and MCHS Members Free