Save-the-CCC
Save-the-CCC
Redding Record Searchlight - Editorial
For 'green jobs,' Obama should look to the CCC
Our view: If our overstretched state can no longer afford the California
Conservation Corps, it would perfectly fit the goals of the president-elect's
stimulus plan.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
It would be futile to knock Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for proposing to slash funding for the
California Conservation Corps, the peaceful army of young men and women who build trails,
clear brush, fight fires and sandbag floods.
California faces a budget deficit estimated at more than $40 billion over the next 18 months. The
state must cut spending drastically, and that means all manner of worthy programs will
disappear.
But it's ironic that the CCC could disappear as a reaction to an economic slowdown that is often
described as the worst since the Great Depression.
After all, the CCC's ancestor, the federal Civilian Conservation Corps, was created by President
Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s precisely to put young people to work during rough times.
For a decade, until World War II changed the nation's manpower needs, the corps worked in our
forests and parks, building roads and trails, campgrounds and culverts, amphitheaters and
water systems. Any visitor to Lassen Volcanic National Park, McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial
State Park or Castle Crags State Park has seen still-standing remnants of that toil.
The California Conservation Corps was formed much later, in the 1970s, with more of an
educational focus, but it's basic mission is similar - putting young people to work in the woods.
They do a tremendous amount of beneficial toil for the public, and the "corpies" do it while
earning minimum wage.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., President-elect Obama is talking about a massive
spending package to stimulate the economy, with a particular focus on creating "green jobs"
and "shovel-ready" infrastructure.
Well, our rivers flow cleaner, our forests are less likely to burn, our communities are healthier
thanks to the CCC's work. If anything's green, it's the California Conservation Corps. And no
group of Americans could be more shovel-ready.
If the state - which legally must balance its budget, or at least pretend to - can no longer afford
the CCC, we'd hope Rep. Wally Herger and our senators would work to steer a tiny fraction of
that federal stimulus into preserving the corps. Indeed, far from being cut, the corps should be a
model for other states.
No, building trails is not, on its own, the path out of these dark economic woods. But the corps is
a well-established and widely respected program that gives young adults a healthy start in life,
and it nicely fits the goals of the next administration.
Surely our politicians can find a way to conserve the CCC.
E.W. Scripps Co. © 2009 Record Searchlight
For 'green jobs,' Obama should look to the CCC
Our view: If our overstretched state can no longer afford the California
Conservation Corps, it would perfectly fit the goals of the president-elect's
stimulus plan.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
It would be futile to knock Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for proposing to slash funding for the
California Conservation Corps, the peaceful army of young men and women who build trails,
clear brush, fight fires and sandbag floods.
California faces a budget deficit estimated at more than $40 billion over the next 18 months. The
state must cut spending drastically, and that means all manner of worthy programs will
disappear.
But it's ironic that the CCC could disappear as a reaction to an economic slowdown that is often
described as the worst since the Great Depression.
After all, the CCC's ancestor, the federal Civilian Conservation Corps, was created by President
Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s precisely to put young people to work during rough times.
For a decade, until World War II changed the nation's manpower needs, the corps worked in our
forests and parks, building roads and trails, campgrounds and culverts, amphitheaters and
water systems. Any visitor to Lassen Volcanic National Park, McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial
State Park or Castle Crags State Park has seen still-standing remnants of that toil.
The California Conservation Corps was formed much later, in the 1970s, with more of an
educational focus, but it's basic mission is similar - putting young people to work in the woods.
They do a tremendous amount of beneficial toil for the public, and the "corpies" do it while
earning minimum wage.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., President-elect Obama is talking about a massive
spending package to stimulate the economy, with a particular focus on creating "green jobs"
and "shovel-ready" infrastructure.
Well, our rivers flow cleaner, our forests are less likely to burn, our communities are healthier
thanks to the CCC's work. If anything's green, it's the California Conservation Corps. And no
group of Americans could be more shovel-ready.
If the state - which legally must balance its budget, or at least pretend to - can no longer afford
the CCC, we'd hope Rep. Wally Herger and our senators would work to steer a tiny fraction of
that federal stimulus into preserving the corps. Indeed, far from being cut, the corps should be a
model for other states.
No, building trails is not, on its own, the path out of these dark economic woods. But the corps is
a well-established and widely respected program that gives young adults a healthy start in life,
and it nicely fits the goals of the next administration.
Surely our politicians can find a way to conserve the CCC.
E.W. Scripps Co. © 2009 Record Searchlight
 | |  | |  | |  |
Friends of the
Save-the-CCC
Campaign
-- Partial List --
Save-the-CCC
Campaign
-- Partial List --
- Paul Carrillo - Chair, Friends of
CCC - John Van de Kamp, Former
Attorney General, State of CA - Herb Perry -Professor Emeritus
Economics,CSUS & member of
Civilian Conservation Corps - Bruce Saito -Executive Director
Los Angeles Conservation Corps
& President o California
Association of Local Corps - Ian Kim, Director Green Collar
Campaign of Ella Baker Center
for Human Rights - Brian Stark - Director, Land
Conservancy of San Luis Obispo - Barbara O'connor, Ph.D., Dir. of
Institute of Study of Politics &
Media, CSUS - Bud Sheble - Former Director of
the California Conservation
Corps Gov. Dukemejian - Tom Mertens, Board of Directors,
League to Save Lake Tahoe - Susie Lange, Deputy
Superintendent Department of
Education - Rick Hawley, Executive Director
– Green Space Cambria Land
Trust - Bill Wilson, Former Chairman of
the Board, Tahoe-Baikal Institute - Robert L. (Griff) Griffiths, Co-
Founder, National Association of
Civilian Conservation Corps
Alumni - Robert Burkhardt - Head of
School, Eagle Rock School &
former Chief Deputy CCC