The Land We Cared For... A History of the Forest Service's Eastern Region

This Chapter will deal with the major events in both Regions 7 and 9 during the 1960's and 1970's. Since the two Regions basically became one in 1965, they will be treated as one in this Chapter. All references to the Eastern Region will pertain to both Regions.

The Kennedy Years

When John F. Kennedy became President in early 1961, a new approach to government came into the White House. Kennedy had promised to get the country moving again and to do something about growing unemployment and economic injustice. However, Kennedy had won the presidency by a narrow margin of electoral and popular votes, and a divided Congress was not willing to pass much of his proposed legislation. The country was undecided about whether it wanted to return to the social programs of earlier Democratic administrations, stand pat with the conservatism of the Eisenhower era, or forge ahead to greater social and economic justice.

Accelerated Public Works

With so much indecision in the country and a Congress which reflected it, it is not surprising that few bold changes were made in policies affecting the Forest Service during the Kennedy years. One program which foretells broader programs to come was the Accelerated Public Works Program (APWP). Unable to get Congress to do anything concrete about unemployment, Kennedy implemented the APWP. This program was designed to rejuvenate the public works of the federal government thereby creating more jobs. Naturally, some of the public works were done on National Forests.

What took place on the Hiawatha National Forest was fairly typical. In 1962, the APWP funded the completion of many Forest projects. Campgrounds were developed, hardwood timber stands improved, softwoods pruned, seed production areas developed, and nature trails constructed. [1]

Another aspect of the program was the building of the Highland Scenic Highway. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962 provided for a 160 mile scenic route along the mountain tops of the Monongahela National Forest. The ground breaking was held in 1965. The highway was a joint effort of the West Virginia Department of Highways, the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Forest Service. In the end, the high hopes of 1962 faded and only about 25 miles of the Scenic Highway were ever built.

In addition to the Scenic Highway, the original program permitted the first real "face lifting" on the Monongahela since the CCC days. All major campgrounds were rehabilitated. Roads were resurfaced. Lake Sherwood Recreation Area was built. [2]

The most active period in decades on the Shawnee National Forest came as a result of the APWP. In 1962, some 430 men were given jobs developing campgrounds, opening fire access trails, building or resurfacing roads and thinning trees. Further work included clearing along roadsides, establishing game food plots, digging ponds, constructing picnic and rest facilities, and building a new office and warehouse for the District Ranger at Elizabethtown. Also the Greentree Reservoir in Jackson County was built so as to provide a habitat for waterfowl. [3]

On the Nicolet National Forest, the APWP became part of the program of work in 1962-63. Funds were finally available for building improvements and a manpower program to improve natural resources. The Nicolet hired approximately 100 men. They built campgrounds, cleared roadsides, and improved timber stands.

The APWP in 1963 developed the Kathryn Lake Camp and Picnic Ground on the Chequamegon National Forest. Another major project on the Chequamegon was the cooperative construction of the Chequamegon Waters Flowage area in Taylor County by the Forest Service and the Pri-Ru-Ta Resource Conservation and Development Program. [4]

The War on Poverty

The accession to the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson was a heart wrenching experience for the entire nation. Many people seemed to think that by belatedly accepting the proposals of the assassinated President, they could somehow do something positive about his assassination. President Johnson was able to use his considerable knowledge and skill in handling Congress to secure passage of most of Kennedy's program. He also added much that was new, especially social programs which harked back to New Deal days. Taken all together, this social and economic program, called the War on Poverty, was one of the most important and far reaching reform movements in the 20th century. Generally, the goals were to eliminate poverty and unemployment and to equalize economic opportunities for all. Civil Rights, broadening of many social programs, an expanded farm program, measures for environmental protection, and many new social assistance initiatives were also part of the War on Poverty.

Unemployment and Conservation

One of the measures presented during the Kennedy years was a direct program to create jobs for the unemployed doing conservation work. The political father of this proposal was Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota. Humphrey was later Vice President under Johnson. In 1959 Humphrey had introduced a bill in Congress to provide for a Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) for healthful training and employment for teenaged boys doing conservation work on the National Forests and Parks. He told the Senate it was a waste of human potential not to utilize the growing number of unemployed youths in such a program. The Forest Service had told him it had 275 million acres of forests which were in need of replacement planting, timber stand improvement, and disease control. Another 52 million acres needed complete replanting. [5]

Humphrey envisioned a corps of young men carving access roads in the forests, preventing stream bed erosion, building picnic area facilities, erecting earth dams, and fighting forest fires. Obviously, he had taken as his model the enormously successful CCC programs of the 1930's. [6] Humphrey's YCC bill had many supporters, but there was too much opposition in Congress for it to pass. Some critics questioned the cost while others doubted the wisdom of gathering teenaged boys into the camps in a time of troubled youth. [7]

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy endorsed the idea of job training for youths from urban centers in the YCC program. A new YCC bill passed the Senate but not the House. However, a government report published in 1963 which described how one-third of draftees were being rejected because of physical and mental deficiencies gave new impetus to the YCC idea. President Lyndon B. Johnson included provisions for a Job Corps in his proposal for an Economic Opportunity Act in 1964 and the Act passed Congress. Thus the Job Corps was born. [8]

The Job Corps

From the beginning, there was some division of thinking about the basic goal of the Job Corps. Some wanted it to be a conservation corps much like the CCC. Others favored training young people in skills which would help them obtain jobs in modern society. The duality of purpose is reflected by the early decision that the Job Corps would have three different types of training centers: conservation centers, men's urban centers, and women's urban centers. Conservation leaders extracted a promise, contained in the legislation, that 40% of the enrollment would be placed in the conservation centers. [9] Sargent Shriver, who was Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), exercised direct administrative control over the program. He began with the ambitious goal of having 40,000 young men in the camps in less than 10 months.

The conservation camps, called Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers (JCCCC's), were established as centers for boys with reading levels of fifth grade or less. The enrollees spent half their days in general education classes and the other half working on conservation projects. When an enrollee graduated with high school equivalency, he could then go to an urban center to learn a vocation. In the JCCCC's, the enrollees learned certain useful skills such as carpentry, masonry, equipment operation, typing, and cooking in addition to remedial math, writing, and reading.

The JCCCC camps began opening in mid-1964. There were many start-up problems in the camps. Staff turnover was high, recruiters promised better conditions than existed in order to meet Shriver's goal of 40,000 enrollees, and youths arrived at the camps without having been properly screened or prepared.

By the end of 1966, there were 88 Conservation Centers nationwide with 12,426 enrollees. However, the dropout rate for the entire Job Corps was about 45% that year. Most of the conservation camps were in remote places with limited facilities for entertainment and social life. The shock to an 18 year old youth away from family and familiar environment was obviously more than many of them could handle. [10]

By 1967, there were 8,000 young men being trained at 47 Forest Service operated conservation camps. The average cost per trainee was $6,576 in 1966, reduced to $5,700 in 1967. The largest items of cost were food, medical and dental care, and staff salaries. During the first few years, there were serious problems with fights and what the news media called riots at several Job Corps Centers. The high dropout rate—32% in 1967—was also a problem.

However, before 1967 was over there were improvements in the Job Corps picture. The job placement rate rose, riots and fights decreased, and a better screening process to keep out undesirables was implemented. [11] Even so, lack of money forced the closing of two Eastern Region JCCCC's, Isabella and Ripton, in 1968.

Despite the early troubles of the Job Corps, the Forest Service was pleased with the work of the Corpsmen. Many worthwhile improvements reminiscent of the CCC days were made on National Forests. Some examples were: campsites, picnic shelters, historic site restorations, Braille trails for the blind, forest fire fighting and training, trail marking, construction of fire breaks, watershed restoration, and improvement of wildlife habitats. And all of this was not coming out of National Forest budgets. [12]

Things changed for the Conservation Centers in 1969 after the election of Richard Nixon. A report of the General Accounting Office said that the Centers were doing more for forest and park facilities than they were for young men. The Secretary of Labor issued a report advocating a two-thirds reduction in the conservation camps. Even though Job Corps Director William P. Kelley pointed out that the Corps had contributed more than $66 million worth of conservation work, Congress passed and President Nixon implemented the closing of 59 Centers.

Now under control of the Department of Labor, all remaining Centers dropped conservation work and turned to vocational training sponsored by labor unions. Instructors provided under contracts with AFL-CIO unions taught the enrollees their trades. Graduates of the Centers took the same union examinations as others and became apprentices and journeymen in the trades. The placement rates were as high as 96%, and by 1974 the Conservation Centers led the three classes of centers in starting pay for their graduates. [14]

The Job Corps struggled through the remaining years of the 1970's, plagued by inflation which increased its operating expenses. [15] Economic hardships of the 1980's put heavy pressure on the Job Corps, but it was one of the few programs not cut by the Reagan Administration in the early 1980's. Critics charged that it was costing $13,000 a year to maintain an enrollee and some pointed out that one could send a student to Harvard for that amount. Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Idaho, a staunch defender, replied that even $13,000 was cheaper than supporting a person on welfare for an entire lifetime. [16]

In 1985 President Reagan's proposed budget cuts would have eliminated the Job Corps completely, but there were enough supporters in Congress to save many of the camps. There are today 107 centers, 18 of them operated by the Forest Service.

The Job Corps in Region 9

Beginning the work of the Job Corps went quickly in Region 9. Between mid-1964 and early 1966, 13 JCCCC's where established throughout the Region. The Lydick Lake Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center on the Chippewa National Forest was typical. It was cooperatively administered by the Forest Service and the Office of Economic Opportunity. Projects completed by the Job Corpsmen included a Ranger's office and Central Equipment Repair Shop at Cass Lake, shore stabilization on Lake Winnibigoshish, campground facilities and tramway construction at Knutson Dam, and construction of signs, fireplace grates, boat landings, and 400 duck nesting boxes.

The Ojibwa Job Corps Center on the Ottawa National Forest opened its doors in December 1965. The 220 enrollees worked on a three-mile scenic road to Wolf Mountain in Gogebic County and a recreation center at the top of the mountain. In 1966 they assisted in fisheries surveys and constructed Bobcat Lake and Mink Lake Recreation areas. They completed canoe landings on the Presque Isle River and constructed numerous buildings at the Job Corps Center. [17]

The Blue Jay Job Corps Center on the Allegheny National Forest, initiated in 1965, could testify to success stories such as a 1968 welding graduate who was supervising 20 other welders at his private job in 1973. The Blue Jay Camp had 225 young men who had passed through its program. Many of them went on to the military service or to school, some to factory jobs, others to attending night classes. [18]

Among the building projects of the Blue Jay Corpsmen were Beaver Meadows and Tidioute Overlook. The Blue Jay Center was converted in the 1970's into drug rehabilitation center under a special use permit to the Erie Drug Council.

On the Chequamegon National Forest a Job Corps Center was established at Clam Lake. Besides receiving courses in reading, math and other basics, they did timber stand improvement, hiking trail and road construction, and landscaping. They also received training in automotive maintenance, carpentry, and welding. The Job Corpsmen at Clam Lake constructed the Day Lake Dam and camping and picnic facilities.

On the Nicolet National Forest, the Blackwell Job Corps Center was established at the site of a former CCC Camp. The staff began with four and grew to 42 people. The Job Corps Center began in 1965 with programs to help enrollees finish their high school education and repairing the Forest's natural resources. Since 1968 vocational training in the building and construction trades has been emphasized. Some of the benefits to the Forest Service in the Nicolet are new recreation areas and administrative site improvements. The Center today teaches 200 resident Corpsmen in the skills of carpentry, heavy equipment operation, painting, welding, masonry, cooking, and building maintenance.

Job Corps Disaster Work

In 1966, Corpsmen from the Vesuvius, Blackwell, Clam Lake and Ojibwa Conservation Centers were rushed to towns devastated by tornadoes in Ohio and Iowa. The workers received high praise from Fire Chief J. O. Zoellner of Wheelersberg, Iowa. [19] On December 21, 1967, 300 people were left homeless in Potosi, Missouri after a tornado hit. The city suffered $3 million in damage and was without lights or telephone. People were in a state of shock. Under the leadership of Ranger Frank Myers of the Potosi Ranger District, Mark Twain National Forest, the Forest Service went into action. Years of fire suppression organization experience was evident as Ranger Myers organized and directed his men. He was appointed Acting Mayor of Potosi. His wife, Ruth, took over leadership of the local American Red Cross and seemed to be everywhere at once scurrying around the town giving orders over the radio. Forestry Technician Percy Crowell was appointed Acting Civil Defense Director. Assistant Ranger Bob Jones manned the only working telephone in town at the Ranger Station, dispatching from it as a command post.

To aid the stricken town of Potosi, Mark Twain Forest Supervisor Rod Young dispatched men and equipment from the Poplar Bluff Job Corps Center. The first crew of Corpsmen arrived with dump trucks, a front end loader and hand tools. Deputy Forest Supervisor, Ed Bober, visited the disaster scene and decided more Corpsmen were needed. Because it was Christmas time, there were only 70 Corpsmen available, but they were sent to the scene and Job Corps Center Director Larry Henson came along too. It seemed to one observer that Ranger Myers was working as if he had five Class E fires going at one time. He set up several work sectors, each with three crews working on clearing streets, salvaging books and records in the demolished city hall, cutting trees, and hauling off debris.

On Christmas Eve, four days after the tornado, most of the Corpsmen returned to the Poplar Bluff Center for some much needed rest. The day after Christmas an appeal came from the people of Willow Springs for Job Corps assistance cleaning up their tornado damage, especially in a poverty stricken area where many pension and welfare people lived. Ten volunteer Corpsmen went to Willow Springs to assist in that work. Said Regional Forester George S. James about the Corpsmen, "They proved themselves a credit to their community, to the Forest Service, to OEO Job Corps and most importantly to themselves." [20]

Regional Office Role in Job Corps

The Job Corps began shortly before the reorganization of Forest Service Regions in 1965. Coordination activities were done by the newly formed Eastern Region. Generally, the function of the Regional Office was to provide overall monitoring of the Job Corps program. Each Job Corps Center came under the direct supervision of the Forest Supervisor of the National Forest in which the Center was located.

Job Corps Centers Presently In Operation

At one time there were 14 Conservation Centers in Region 9, a large number compared to other Regions. This was reasonable because nearly half of the national population resides in the Region. However, by the 1980's there were only two centers left in the Region These were operated by the Forest Service with policy being set by the Department of Labor. Little conservation work was being done. Most projects were construction of public buildings, some of them on National Forests. The two remaining Centers in Region 9 are Blackwell in Wisconsin and Golconda in southern Illinois.

Blackwell Civilian Conservation Center

The Blackwell Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center, located on the Nicolet National Forest a few miles east of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, opened in December of 1965. The Center was built on an old CCC campsite from the 1930's. Construction of new buildings began in the summer of 1965, and were occupied a few months later.

From the beginning, Blackwell was a well-run Center. The young men who came there spent half-days in classroom activities and half-days in conservation work and vocational programs. Until 1968, the Corpsmen worked on National Forest projects such as planting trees, constructing and improving recreation areas, and other conservation projects.

The changes in the Job Corps program under President Nixon brought an end to conservation work and emphasis on vocational training. The idea was to enhance the trainee's chances of finding employment. The vocational areas offered at Blackwell were building (Carpenters and Joiners of America), painting (National Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades Union), and masonry (International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts). [21]

Although 50 of the 94 Job Corps were closed by the Nixon Administration in 1969, the Blackwell Center survived. This seems to be testimony to the achievements of the camp. In 1977 the Center received a Superior Service Award from the Department of Agriculture. In 1984, it was nationally acclaimed for the best overall performance of all Forest Service operated centers. [22]

For more than two decades, the Blackwell Center has run at peak levels. There is usually the full complement of slightly over 200 trainees, annual budgets in the area of $2 million, and approximately 60 staff members. [23] The usual stay for completers is one year, while the average for all is about 7.5 months. The recruits come from the five Lake States, many from Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee. [24]

A major contribution made by Blackwell to the entire Job Corps system has been the innovative organization and incentive programs. The Corpsmen have a student government run on a team system. All welders, for instance, live in the same dorm and have their own classroom. The same vocational instructor, teacher, and dormitory manager work with the welders, forming a team. The dorms are divided into bays of six to eight beds; each bay has a bay leader. The students have a dorm leader and an assistant dorm leader. A Center Standards Officer oversees the disciplinary system, but the approach of the system is a positive one, motivated by incentives.

The incentive system was developed at Blackwell in the mid-1970's. There are five different status levels at Blackwell, signified by the colors grey, blue, red, silver, and gold. A Corpsman starts at grey and if he makes good progress in his training and in social behavior he progresses to blue, then red; when he reaches silver and gold there is incentive pay added to his monthly allowance. Two infractions of the rules or behavioral problems can cause a Corpsman to be put down a color. The incentive systems works well and has been adopted at many other Job Corps Centers, including Golconda. Credit for developing the incentive system at Blackwell goes to former staffer Jim Steffan, now Manpower Development Specialist in the Regional Office. [25]

The skills learned by the Corpsmen have been put to good uses in the various local projects. The young men in the carpentry program built the CCC Museum building at Pioneer Park in Rhinelander in 1982. [26] In 1984, Corpsmen built a new oil and tree storage building on the Laona Ranger District. [27] The Corpsmen were in the process of building a new visitors' center and administrative building for their own Center in 1986.

Even with a soft job market in the 1980's, Blackwell maintained a good record in job placements. One welding graduate, Harold Flournoy, secured a job with a heating company in Minnesota at $8 an hour within a week after graduating. [28] Other graduates from years past now head their own paint, construction, and trucking companies. As one long time staff member puts it, "I think that's the success of Blackwell—seeing these Corpsmen getting out there and making something of themselves." [29]

A visitor to Blackwell Center finds the camp neatly kept and in a beautiful forest setting. The staff seems proud of the job they are doing and the Corpsmen, while sometimes a bit unruly while off duty, seem to have a positive attitude. The place is no country club, but it has decent surroundings. It gives young men an opportunity they might never have had otherwise.

Golconda Job Corps Conservation Center

Located on a beautiful wooded site in the Shawnee Hills of southern Illinois a few miles north of Golconda and with a picture-book view of the Ohio River, the Golconda Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center (GJCCCC) opened its doors on June 28, 1965. With a capacity for 224 trainees, the Center has run at nearly full capacity ever since. Its format is similar to Blackwell's, with the trainees spending half their work days in education and half in vocational training in carpentry, masonry, automotive maintenance, welding, heavy equipment operation, and a unique culinary arts program. [30]

Conservation work on the Shawnee National Forest was always a secondary consideration to vocational training at Golconda. However, over the years, the GJCCCC has accomplished many work projects including campground construction, wildlife habitat improvement, strip mine rehabilitation, tree plantings, horse and hiking trail construction, and stream bed improvement. Corpsmen built the new Ranger Station at Murphysboro. For several years the Corpsmen served as traffic directors and cooked barbecue for the annual Pope County Deer Festival in Golconda. [31] In 1971, they helped clear debris and trees in nearby Thompsonville, after a tornado. [32]

After the changes of the Nixon years, the Center converted almost completely to vocational training under contracts with labor unions and with union instructors. The union connection improved job placement, and in recent years graduates of Golconda have gone to well paid jobs with major companies and in construction work. The goal of the Center is to place its graduates as apprentices. In 1987 the placement rate was 72%. The Center had a turnover of about 10 trainees in and 10 out each week. The average stay was 8.5 months with a maximum of two years. [33]

Strong support from southern Illinois Congressmen, especially Representative Kenneth J. Gray and Senators Paul M. Simon and Allan J. Dixon, and low operating costs have been important to the survival of the GJCCCC. Furthermore, the Forest Service owns the land on which the Center is located and the buildings are fairly new. Some other Centers may not have survived because their management teams were less committed to the program than Golconda. Other Centers also had serious problems with local community acceptance which Golconda did not have. Most of the southern Illinois towns near the Center are supportive. The Golconda Center has, of course, had its problems over the years, but these have been managed. The isolation of the camp has always been a problem for city youths accustomed to life on the street. The camp management provides as much wholesome recreation and entertainment as possible. There are day rooms, a recreation hall, basketball courts, a baseball field, an arts and crafts building, and television in each dormitory. There are also bus trips to Paducah, Kentucky; Carbondale, Illinois; and occasionally to St. Louis and Chicago for sporting events, shopping, and socializing. [34]

The Corpsmen are paid an allowance of $40 to $100 per month depending on the development of their skills. All necessities are provided, even street clothes. They also earn up to $100 per month which is put in a savings account and given to them when they graduate. The education program compares favorably with public education. Students work on their own with much individual instruction. The Center tests students with the SAT test for comparison, and the results are close to the nationwide average. [35]

The Nixon Years

When Richard M. Nixon became President in 1969, many of the social and unemployment programs of the Great Society were immediate targets for review and drastic reduction or elimination. Nixon was far more conservative than Johnson had been, and he was forced by serious economic recession to seek ways to trim the federal budget. One major area to be trimmed was the Job Corps.

Youth Conservation Corps

In 1970 President Nixon signed into law the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), a new youth corps aimed at employing young people in conservation work. Administered by the Departments, of Agriculture and Interior, the YCC did conservation work on federal lands much like the old CCC; however, it had both male and female enrollees and operated only in the summer. Some of the youths lived in camps and some who lived within commuting distance lived at home. Enrollees had to be at least 18 years of age and could come from any economic, ethnic, or social strata.

The YCC program proved successful in Region 9. Its biggest year was 1978, when $60 million was spent employing 3,600 young people. In 1983 the Reagan Administration withdrew YCC funding in an effort to reduce the federal budget, but because of the YCC's public popularity, Congress requested that the federal agencies involved continue the program on a greatly reduced basis from agency funds. In FY 86 there were 400 youths in the Region 9 YCC program with a budget of $490,000. From the Forest Service viewpoint, the YCC program has been a good one because it brought youth together from many diverse backgrounds, taught good environmental ethics, and promoted positive Forest Service public relations in local communities. [36]

The YCC program illustrates how far Human Resources Programs have come since the CCC days. While there is still the element of conservation, or to be more contemporary, "environmental awareness," the main thrust of the program from the beginning has been to bring youth together from various social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds and to help them to learn and develop their interpersonal relationship skills while working together in the natural environment. The benefit to the nation comes in the values which will be imparted to the youth who will be the leaders of the future. The cost of the YCC program, therefore, is not measured in dollars alone but should be considered as an investment in the future. [37]

The Senior Community Service Employment Program

The Older American Act of 1975 in Title V established the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). This is a federally subsidized part-time employment/training program for economically disadvantaged persons 55 years of age or older. The program seeks to place a percentage of the enrollees in unsubsidized jobs in the private sector. A forerunner of this program was Operation Mainstream, which had similar goals.

The Forest Service acted as host for Operation Mainstream and for the SCSEP and then became direct contractor for the SCSEP with the Department of Labor. [38] Like most of the other Human Resource Programs, the SCSEP was allocated on the basis of population and Region 9 received a large share of it. Region 9 funding in 1976, when the program began, was $1 million. The funding level has increased annually until in 1985 it was $4 million. [39]

SCSEP enrollees are selected from the most needy as prescribed by Department of Labor guidelines. Many are on Social Security or welfare. The program allows them to have greater self esteem by doing productive work and earning additional income. Some have earned enough through SCSEP to move off of welfare and become self-sufficient. Employment is part-time and limited to 1,300 hours in one year. Enrollees are paid the federal or state minimum wage, whichever is higher.

Job training is provided for those wishing to up-grade or learn new skills. Such training is encouraged to facilitate placement in unsubsidized jobs, but placement is not required of enrollees. Because there are no residential camps and enrollees commute to the National Forests where they work and train, it has been difficult to meet state or Region-wide minority targets. To remedy this situation, county-wide targets based on county demographics will be used in the future. For instance, if a county has an American Indian population of 30%, the SCSEP target in that county would be 30% Indians. Female participation has been encouraged and is increasing gradually. [40]

As the average age of the general population continues to increase, the need for the SCSEP program will grow, and the Human Resources Program (HRP) Staff of Region 9 anticipates that the program will remain viable. The SCSEP enrollees are looked upon as valuable additions to the Forest Service since they bring useful work skills, maturity, and a good work ethic. [41]

Volunteers in the National Forest

In 1972 Congress passed the Volunteers in the National Forest Act. This law allowed the Forest Service to have volunteers working in the National Forests without pay. Volunteers could be reimbursed for incidental expenses incurred in their work and were provided with workmen's compensation for work related injuries or illness as well as tort claims coverage.

The Volunteer Program in Region 9 began on a small scale, essentially because there was an abundance of YCC and other paid program positions available in the Region. Such paid programs were allocated on a population basis. Region 9, with 46% of the nation's population within its boundaries, received a lion's share. When paid programs were reduced, the volunteer program began to grow dramatically. In FY 78, $104,300 worth of work was accomplished by volunteers, but in FY86 the value of volunteer work was $1,414,300, an increase of 1,356%. [42]

In 1985, Regional Forester Larry Henson remarked that the Volunteer Program had become so important to the Region that it would be difficult to operate without it. The volunteers were doing a variety of jobs ranging from trail maintenance to campground hosts. Older citizens and teenagers made up the majority of the volunteers, although there were volunteers like the two young married couples who lived all summer in the Superior National Forest and served as guides. One couple were both teachers and the other were writers.

In 1984 a special volunteer youth program called the Touch American Project (TAP) was initiated with great encouragement from President Ronald Reagan. Aimed at teenagers from the ages of 14 to 17 and supported with private sector money for work projects, the program was originated by the Secretary of Agriculture. In FY 84 some 1,200 teenagers were involved, in FY 85 there were 1,100, and in FY86 there were 849. [43]

In recent years, the Eastern Region has developed new ways to utilize volunteers. The Regional planning process has used several professional volunteers in the public involvement portion of the forest planning process. Volunteers are being used in the Good Host Program, an arrangement whereby volunteers are placed in charge of Forest Service campgrounds. They deal with the public, collect fees, represent the Forest Service, and maintain the camps. They wear distinctive vests with Forest Service patches but receive no pay except free lodging or parking and actual operating expenses. The Good Host Program has proved to be a popular one and many retired couples spend their summers as volunteer Good Hosts. The program has improved the services to recreation users, increased fees collected, and reduced vandalism in recreation areas. [44]

The Young Adult Conservation Corps

The Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC) was established in 1977 with a target group of unemployed young men and women between the ages of 16 and 23. The work to be done was on needed labor-intensive natural resource projects. The Region 9 share of this program was $13.4 million in 1978. To serve urban youth, there were two residential camps established, Clam Lake on the Chequamegon National Forest and Bald Eagle on the Chippewa National Forest. However, most of the enrollees were rural and were able to live at home.

By this time, Forest Service personnel had learned much about managing youth employment programs. They were able to motivate the young people by directing them in worthwhile and rewarding projects. As the YACC program developed and matured, its productivity and accomplishments in the National Forests increased.

Because of the lack of residential camps, the YACC program benefited rural youth more than urban. In 1980 there was only one camp in the Region for housing YACC urban youth. That camp was on the Chequamegon National Forest and accommodated only 60 young people, mostly from Chicago and Milwaukee. However, for the rural youth it was a way they could remain in their home towns or farms without having to migrate to the city to find a job. YACC non-resident projects provided the young people with valuable training and job experience and improved their chances for finding jobs locally.

One distinct advantage of the YACC program for the Forest Service was the youth, strength and vigor of the enrollees. Such young people could learn to handle difficult equipment like chainsaws and could cope with the sometimes harsh weather of the Region.

To the enrollees, the YACC provided training in work ethic, counseling, and encouragement to complete the general education courses offered. In some cases, the counselors persuaded high school dropouts to return to school. One noteworthy YACC project aided low income elderly people to lay in supplies of winter fuel wood.

Minority and female participation in the YACC program was significant but numerically limited. Most of the minorities and females involved in the program were employed at the Clam Lake Camp on the Chequamegon or in two subprojects of the Science and Education Administration and the Patuxent Naval Air Station in Maryland. [45]

In 1981 and 1982 President Reagan ordered the phasing out of the YACC in an attempt to reduce the federal budget. The entire Region and especially the National Forests had to adjust to less dollars, staff reductions, and less work accomplished.

Other Hosted Programs

"Other Hosted Programs" are Human Resource Programs that are administered by a sponsoring organization other, than the Forest Service. Such organizations include city, state, county, other federal, and private programs. The Forest Service hosts these programs by providing work projects for enrollees on the National Forests. Enrollee wages and other expenses are borne by the sponsoring organizations.

The hosted programs have provided a means of accomplishing the work of the Region at little expense to the budget. The former Comprehensive Employment Training (CETA) program which was replaced by the Job Training Partnership (JTPA) were examples of hosted programs, as was College Work Study, a program which supported on-campus work.

Conclusions on the Human Resources Programs

The Human Resources Programs of Region 9 added a new dimension, perhaps even a new social conscience, to the work of the Forest Service. It began back in the 1930's with the original CCC experiment. No program of Roosevelt's New Deal was better received. In the 1960's, when President Johnson, an admirer and emulator of Franklin D. Roosevelt, revived a program similar to the CCC, it was natural that the program would be turned over to the Forest Service, which had done a good job with the CCC.

Although the Forest Service has never emphasized Human Resources Programs, it has proven to be very effective in administering them. Forest Service people, with their dedication to the simple and practical idealism of conservation and with their belief in the traditional values of American society, are exactly the right kind of people to deal with disoriented and discouraged young people. Still another plus for the Forest Service was its flexible organizational structure and its traditional decentralization of authority. These qualities made it easier to set up camps for housing and administering the programs, as did the fact that the National Forests offered sites for the camps at no cost to the programs and away from the influences of big cities.

Land Exchange Program

By the mid-1960's it was painfully clear that there was a big problem in the eastern National Forests with land ownership patterns. In Region 9 there were several National Forests where only about 20% of the land within the boundaries was owned by the Forest Service. Few of the Forests had over 50% ownership. This pattern was due to the limited availability of the land for purchase when it was first acquired.

The problems rising out of such scattered ownership patterns were numerous and costly. One problem was with private owners when public use was allowed on adjacent National Forest lands. Conversely, some private inholdings were a source of direct damage to National Forest lands. Pollution from mining operations causes many problems. The pattern also created exceedingly high costs for surveying and marking interior boundary lines for exchanges of rights-of-way for access and use. In addition, small scattered ownership of land multiplies the costs of road development, fire protection and administration. It creates hazards from fire and trespass, and complicates the processes of management. [46]

The ownership pattern of some National Forests were apparently as troublesome for private landowners as they were for the Forest Service. At its annual meeting in May 1965, the National Forest Products Association (NFPA), the leading organization of lumber and wood manufacturing companies, adopted a resolution calling for a land exchange program with the Forest Service for the purpose of consolidations. The NFPA wanted the land exchanges to be made with future timber production in mind as well as the welfare of communities and industries dependent on forest products. They believed the lands should be exchanged on the basis of their multiple use values and that public lands declared surplus should be sold rather than exchanged. [47]

Unfortunately, the Forest Service had not been encouraging land exchanges. In the mid-1960's a management study team found a huge backlog of proposals for land exchanges piled up in Supervisors' and Regional Offices. The team pointed out that many millions of dollars could be saved in surveying costs alone by an exchange program. The average exchange was taking 2.5 years. Instead of the exchanges being handled by inexperienced Rangers at the District level, the report advocated centralizing the process at the Regional Offices.

An outside review team recommended in 1965 that each National Forest correct its irregular ownership patterns in an accelerated program of land exchanges over a period of five years. [48] The Forest Service concurred in the recommendation and the Chief ordered the National Forest Manual to be revised to provide for land exchange planning. The Chief accepted the idea of a crash program and set one in motion. He also centralized the appraisal and evaluation work in the Regional Offices. [49]

Mineral Rights Problems

The one National Forest in the East which was most extensively developed for mineral purposes was the Allegheny. Titusville, where Edwin Drake drilled the first commercial oil well in the world, is located near the Forest. The Pennsylvania oils taken from this Region have remained the industry standard for high quality motor oils. The eastern two-thirds of the Allegheny National Forest has been heavily developed by oil companies who own most of the mineral rights. It is impossible to walk more than a few hundred yards in this part of the Forest without seeing some sign of past or present oil company development. Old and new oil company roads combined with old logging roads, township, state, and Forest roads make the area easily accessible. [50]

The main problem stemming from mineral rights where the Forest Service does not own them is that the interests who do own them have the right to access. For example, a mineral rights owner may drill an oil well where he chooses. He has a right to build roads for access, to bring in equipment, and to construct tanks and slush pits. The Forest Service monitors these activities and attempts to keep the environmental damage to a minimum, but it cannot stop the process.

Multiple Use Brings Changes

The Forest Service changed dramatically in its management procedures in the 1960's and early 1970's. Many new people were brought into the organization: landscape architects, ecologists, soil scientists, transportation planners, archaeologists, and recreation specialists. This new diversity of personnel was in response to the interdisciplinary thrust of the new law, the Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act of 1960. As Public Affairs Specialist, Ned Therrian, explains, "The Forest Service was getting to the point where they couldn't handle the tough questions that people were asking." People were confronting the Forest Service with issues that required specialized expertise to address in forest plans and other public documents. An example is the visual concern of the tourist or hiker in the Forest. The Forest Service began to see the need to call on the expertise of a landscape architect when a timber sale or a ski area was planned. Therrian argues that this is an example where the Forest Service is not given enough credit for its farsightedness. "We were hiring some of the very first landscape architects back in the 1920's even. But it wasn't until the 1960's that we really got into integrating those skills in the management process and making those people part of the management teams and really developing those sciences." Therrian believes that the science of landscape architecture and wildlands management pretty much developed in the Forest Service:

"The state of the art today has emanated out of a series of hand books that people in the Forest Service have developed. . .There's no organization in the world that I'm aware of that has the knowledge and skills for managing, wildland . . . that the Forest Service has today." [51]

Summary

In the 1960's and 1970's, the Forest Service was brought more into the mainstream of national life. When there were national problems such as unemployment and lack of vocational training for youths and others, the job of operating many of the curative programs was given to the Forest Service. When public pressures grew for greater use of the National Forests and better protection of the environment, the Forest Service responded with emphasis on multiple use.

In the Eastern Region, where half the nation's population lives, the impact of the two decades was profound. The unemployment and social programs received heavy emphasis as long as the appropriations held out. They accomplished much conservation work on the National Forests, but more important they helped thousands of young people to have better lives. The programs were ably run by the Region, and some vestiges of them continue today. In the absence of massive appropriations, today's emphasis is on voluntarism, which has become essential to carrying on the work of the Region.

The advent of multiple use has forever changed the day-to-day operations of the Region. At all levels, there are now experts working in nearly every facet of multiple use. Thinking throughout the Region now encompasses all uses, and while timber management is still important, it is not all important as it once was.

Reference Notes

1. Diane Y. Aaron, "A People's Legacy," p. 10.

2. 50 Year History of the Monongahela, pp. 22-23.

3. Fred Soady, Jr., "The Making of the Shawnee," p. 15.

4. "Chequamegon: The Making. . .," p. 10.

5. Congressional Quarterly Almanac 15, 86th Cong., 1st sess., 1959.

6. Hubert H. Humphrey, "A Plan to Save Trees, Land and Boys," Harper's Magazine (January 1959), p. 55.

7. U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, Hearings Before the Subcommittee on the Youth Conservation Corps, 86th Cong., 1st sess., 1959, p. 480.

8. Sar A. Levitan and Benjamin H. Johnston, The Job Corps, A Social Experiment that Works (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975), p. 3.

9. Ibid., p. 4.

10. "How Much is a Boy Worth?" American Forests 73 (July 1967), p. 18.

11. "Job Corps Comes up to a Test," Business Week (October 14, 1907), p. 145.

12. "Life in the Job Corps: What a Camp is Like," U.S. News and World Report 63 (August 14, 1967); 59; and "Cass Men Build Camp Grounds," The Corpsmen 4 (March 15, 1968), p. 5.

13. U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, Closing of Job Corps Centers, Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Employment, Manpower, and Poverty, 91st Cong., 1st sess., 1969. p. 15.

14. "How Unions are Breathing New Life into the Job Corps," U.S. News and-World Report 75 (August 6, 1973), p. 61.

15. Congressional Quarterly Almanac 33, 95th Cong., 1st sess., 1977, p. 299.

16. "Survivor of the Budget Cuts," Time 118 (August 31, 1981), p. 68.

17. Ottawa National Forest, Annual Review, 1966.

18. Brian E. Stout and Kenneth Cononage, "Youth Programs on Allegheny National Forest," Special 50th Anniversary Series (Allegheny National Forest, 1973), pp. 1-2.

19. Contact, June 1968.

20. Contact Special, January 1968.

21. William Wolff, Jr., "The Job Corps Story on the Nicolet," mimeographed study, Blackwell JCCCC files, 1976, pp. 2-5.

22. Nicolet National Forest, Blackwell Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center, Pamphlet.

23. Nicolet News, Number 33, March, 1982.

24. Frank Koenig (Director, Blackwell JCCCC), Interview, October 3, 1986

25. Ibid.

26. Nicolet News, Number 35, May 1982.

27. Ibid., Number 51, May 1984.

28. Ibid., Number 39, January 1983.

29. Frank Koenig, Interview.

30. Shawnee National Forest, "Accomplishments through 1966 at the Golconda Job Corps Conservation Center on the Shawnee National Forest" (Shawnee National Forest, 1966), p. 8.

31. Ibid., pp. 11-12.

32. The [Golconda] Corpsman, 7 (June 15, 1971), p. 12.

33. Arlin Rhoads (Administrative Officer, Golconda JCCC), Interview, March 11, 1987.

34. Ibid.

35. Ibid.

36. CR/HRP Staff, "Historical Perspective" (Eastern Region, n.d.), p. 2.

37. CR/HRP Staff, HRP Programs Progress Report-1980 (Eastern Region, n.d), p. 15.

38. CR/HRP Staff, Historical Perspective, p. 2.

39. Ibid.

40. CR/HRP Staff, HRP Progress Report 1980, p. 26.

41. CR/HRP Staff, "Historical Perspective," p. 3.

42. Ibid., p. 2.

43. Ibid., pp. 2-3.

44. CR/HRP Staff, HRP Progress Report 1980, p. 34.

45. Ibid., p. 21.

46. Joint Management Improvement and Manpower Review Team, "Review of Management Practices and Manpower Utilization in the Forest Service," Draft (July 1965), p. 102, (Hereinafter cited as the Deckerd Report).

47. Ibid.

48. Ibid., pp. 108-110.

49. "Forest Service Implementation Report," Appendix to Deckerd Report VII, pp. 37-40.

50. GRI Inspection Report, 1948, 95-A-0036, PRC, RG 95.

51. Ned Therrian, Interview, October 2, 1986.

Accelerated Public Works Project workers laying a culvert on Alvin Creek Road, Eagle River Ranger District, Nicolet National Forest, Wisconsin, 1963.