Marshall McClung
In 1977, the federal government began a program known as the Young Adult Conservation Corps. The purpose of this program was to provide one year of employment for young people 16-23 years of age on forest conservation projects.
I had the privilege of serving as the work coordinator for the program, which at one time totaled 45 enrollees on the Cheoah Ranger District here in Graham County. The enrollees worked on a variety of jobs and were divided into different crews, such as trails, timber, land surveying and recreation.
Much of the original 18-mile Tsail Trail complex was built by the corps with hand tools. While the program was in operation, every hiking trail on the district was trimmed, water drainage bars installed and other needed maintenance was performed.
Every helicopter landing site was kept cleared; thousands of trees were planted; and miles of boundary lines maintained – just to name a few of the projects they were involved in.
If the enrollee was over 18, they were permitted to be involved in fire suppression after completing the required training and a physical test. This produced – to my knowledge – the first female firefighters ever used here.
The fire training consisted of a number of topics, including weather, terrain, fuels and how they may affect how a fire burns, techniques for attacking a fire, transporting personnel, equipment and supplies. Also covered was fire line organization and communications.
Then, the enrollees got some firsthand experience of actually building a fire line around an area to be burned. The Southern Pine Beetle had killed an area of trees that needed to be replanted. For this, you want a fire to remove as much of the debris as possible.
I spread the crew of 27 enrollees 10 feet apart on the fire line, with an experienced fire fighter between each one.
When the fire began making a lot of noise with large flames, I became a “mother hen” – with enrollees all around me wanting to know if they needed to run.
Hey, we all had to learn at one time.
Sadly, funding for the program ended in 1982, with Aug. 28 being the last day. This had a huge impact on the forest service as well as Graham County. Enrollees had to leave, whether they had worked their full year or not.
During the years the program operated on the Cheoah, around 300 enrollees were worked.
In my opinion, the Cheoah Ranger District has never fully recovered from the loss of the program. This is especially true of trail maintenance, which is mostly performed by a few volunteers now.
This was the first job many of the enrollees had ever had, especially the females. Some of them cried when their year was up.
Even today, former enrollees will tell me that the Young Adult Conservation Corps was the best job they ever had.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He is retired from the U.S. Forest Service and can be reached via email, mcclungs@email.com.