Collins, a former Green Beret who lost two limbs in Vietnam and coined the CCC’s motto: “Hard work, low pay, miserable conditions. Its third director was the irrepressible B.T. Seven of the early CCC centers were focused on firefighting, and from 1976-1980 corpsmembers fought 315 fires, including the 1977 Sycamore Canyon Fire in Santa Barbara. He developed corpsmember and staff classifications and oversaw design of the CCC uniforms and logo. The second director, LeRoy Chatfield, opened 18 centers in 18 months, while formulating the corps’ first project guidelines and work goals. Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Conservation Corps into law in 1976, envisioning it as “a combination Jesuit seminary, Israeli kibbutz, and Marine Corps boot camp.” Brown’s choice for director, Boyd “Buck” Horner, established the first three CCC field locations at Camp Radford in the San Bernardino Mountains, San Luis Obispo and Escondido during his brief two years as director. The California program is modeled after it. The program was one of Roosevelt’s most popular and lasted until 1942. The plan was to enlist a peacetime army of unemployed young men, give them jobs and turn them loose defending the nation’s natural resources and building its infrastructure.

President Franklin Roosevelt, upon taking office in 1933 during the Depression, approved several measures in his first 100 days that were meant to kick start the New Deal, including a program that would become known as the Civilian Conservation Corps.

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