Conservation and Reforestation in the North Country was of great importance in the beginning of the Twentieth Century, several states had their own programs to bring back forests, and the United States Forest Service was created to replant forests across the country. These programs did some good, early work, but the most important impact was made in the wake of the Great Depression.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt was innaugurated as the 32nd president in 1933 he offered up his "New Deal" to put the country back to work. One of his most successful programs was the establishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps. This week I am joined by Phil Naud, a Civilian Conservation Corps historian, who speaks about the creation of the CCC, the work that they performed in Michigan, and about a special population of CCC enrollees, Military Veterans, namely those that were veterans of the Spanish-American War (1898) and the First World War (1917-1918).

In Michigan, the CCC would do great work to stimulate the regrowth of the forests that were largely destroyed during the 19th century lumber boom, and by the wildfires that followed. More than 484 million trees were planted by the CCC in Michigan alone from 1933-1942. More than 102,000 men served in the CCC in Michigan, doing everything from planting trees, fighting fires, building roads, bridges, dams, and airfields, creating or improving parks and campgrounds, and doing stream improvement, among other jobs.

Episode Corrections:

At 7:02 I mention that there are eight national forests in Michigan. This is incorrect. There are four in Michigan, eight in the Great Lakes region (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). The four in Michigan are: Huron National Forest and the Manistee National Forest in the Lower Peninsula (they are managed jointly as the Huron-Manistee National Forest), and the Hiawatha National Forest and the Ottawa National Forest in the Upper Peninsula. The Marquette National Forest was also established in the Upper Peninsula, bust was later merged into the Hiawatha National Forest.

At 13:19 I respond to Phil's comment about the U.S. Seantor from Michigan who suggested work that could be done. I said Vandenburg (Senator Arthur Vandenburg from Grand Rapids). It was actually Senator James Couzens from Detroit. Couzens had been an executive with the Ford Motor Company and Mayor of Detroit before he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Additional Reading:

Carr, Ethan, Wilderness by Design: Landscape Architecture & the National Park Service. Lincoln, NE. University of Nebraska Press/Bison Books. 1998. (There is information regarding Recreational Demonstration Areas including Waterloo and Yankee Springs Recreation Areas in Michigan.)

Cohen, Stan. The Tree Army: A Pictorial History of the Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-42. Missoula, MT. Pictorial Histories Publishing Company. 1980.

Rosentreter, Roger L. Roosevelt's Tree Army, Michigan's Civilian Conservation Corps. Lansing, MI. Michigan Bureau of History. 1986. (It is available online at: https://www.michigan.gov/mhc/museums/hln-ccc/ccc-in-michigan)

Schueller, Mary J. The Soldiers of Poverty. Ritchfield, WI. Rustic Books. 2006. (This is the book I referenced of the enrollee going from southern Illinois to Wisconsin to Isle Royale.)

Symon, Charles A. We Can Do It! A History of the CCC in Michigan 1933-1942. Escanaba, MI. Richard's Printing. 1983.

Additional Online Information:

CCC Legacy: https://ccclegacy.org/

Higgins Lake Nursery and CCC Museum: https://www.michigan.gov/mhc/museums/hln-ccc

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This episodes marks the beginning of Season 2 of the North Country History with Rob Burg podcast. We look at what will be coming up on Season 2 airing from June through August, 2025. But first we recap Season 1 as a refresher and also an introduction for new listeners.

Season 2 will bring new guests to the podcast, take a look at the origins of the lumber industry in the United States in the Northeastern states of Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania, explore some new topics in forest history and to also revisit the lumber industry discussing technological changes, and the labor force of the lumber industry.

Season 2 Schedule:

June 2 S02.E02: Introducing Season 2 & Recapping Season 1.

June 9 S02.E03: The Civilian Conservation Corps Part 1: The New Deal's Outdoors Restoration Program. With guest Phil Naud.

June 16 S02.E03: The Civilian Conservation Corps Part 2: The Life of a CCC Boy. With guest Bill Jamerson.

June 23 S02.E04: Logging in the Northeast, Part 1: Maine-The Birth of an Industry.

June 30 S02.E05: Logging in the Northeast, Part 2: The Adirondacks.

July 7 S02.E06: Logging in the Northeast, Part 3: Penn's Woods.

July 14 S02.E07: Fire Follows the Axe: Lumber, Wildfires, and Climate Change.

July 21 S02.E08: The Passenger Pigeon. With guest Kyle Bagnall.

July 28 S02.E09: Lumber, Lakes & Lighthouses. With guest Bruce Lynn.

August 4 S02.E10: Railroad Logging.

August 11 S02.E.11: Sawmill Technology.

August 18 S02.E12: The Labor of Logging, Part 1: Timber Cruisers, Shanty Boys, and River Hogs.

August 25 S02.E13: The Labor of Logging, Part 2: The Men and Women of the Lumber Towns.

2025 North Country History Podcast Tour: Northern Lower Peninsula & the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Northern Wisconsin, and Northern Minnesota. July 31-August 16, 2025.

• Frederic Michigan: "Deward: The Last of Michigan's Lumber Boomtowns," Frederic Township Library. Time TBA.
• The Pigeon River Country State Forest
• Mackinac State Historic Parks
• Kitch-iti-kipi, the Big Spring
• Peshtigo Fire Musem
• Nicolet National Forest
• Cathedral Pines Natural Area
• Lumberjack Steram Train & Camp Five Museum
• Rhinelander, WI
• St. Croix River National Scenic River and Taylor Falls, Minnesota.
• Snake River Fur Trading Post
• Hinckley Fire Museum
• Forest History Center
• Ely, Minnesota
• Superior National Forest
• Grand Portage National Monument
• Gooseberry Falls State Park
• Ashland and Bayfield Wisconsin
• Chequamegon National Forest
• Ottawa National Forest

How to Connect with North Country History

Email: Rob.NorthCountryHistory@gmail.com

Website: The North Country History with Rob Burg Podcast https://northcountryhistorywithrobburg.buzzsprout.com/

YouTube: North Country History with Rob Burg https://www.youtube.com/@NorthCountryHistory

Facebook: Rob Burg-Environmental Historian
https://www.facebook.com/RobBurgEnviroHistorian

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Bluesky: Rob Burg: @northcountryrob.bsky.social‬

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In 1917 with the United States of America's declaration of war against Germany, a call went out for volunteers to serve in the expanding U.S. Armed Forces. Not only were soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines needed, but so were lumberjacks, foresters, sawmill employees, and others who did work related to the lumber and forestry industries. These men were important support troops that were part of the unsung elements of all armies that go to war, the engineers.

As mentioned in episode 14, Major Edward E. Hartwick of Detroit, formerly of Grayling, Michigan, served with these men, as the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion of the 20th Regiment of Engineers (Forestry). Edward Hartwick's biography, written by author Gordon K. Miller in 1921 sheds light on some of the work these men did to aid the war effort in France. Through diary entries and letters to his family, Major Hartwick described the work and living conditions of his soldiers.

Engineers and other support troops, such as commissary, supplies, teamsters, and hospital personnel, among others, have always been important for armies to march and survive. Not everyone who serves, carries a weapon. Listen this week to learn a little bit about some of these soldiers of the First World War.

Episode Sources:

Guthrie, Jno. D., James A. WHite, Henry B. Steer, and Harry T. Whitlock. The Carpathians, Tenth Engineers (Forestry) A.E.F.-1917-1919. Roster and Historical Sketch. Washington, D.C., May 1940.

Miller, Gordon K. A Biographical Sketch of Major Edward E. Hartwick, Together with a Compilation of Major Hartwick's Letters and Diaries written during the Spanish-American and World Wars. Detroit, 1921 (Privately Published). Reprint by Heritage Books, Berwyn Heights, Maryland, 2015.

20th Regiment of Engineers Website. Created by Bruce Porter. 20thengineers.com/ww1.html

World War I: 10th and 20th Forestry Engineers. Webpage of the Forest History Society, Digital Collections. foresthistory.org/digital-collections/world-war-10th-20th-forestry-engineers/

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