Unsung heroes of American conservation
African-Americans played huge, but little-known role in creation of wildlife refuges
By Dan Chapman, public affairs specialistFebruary 3, 2021
St. Charles, Arkansas – Naomi Mitchell is the clerk and treasurer for this small White River town (pop. 230) renowned for duck hunting. She also, for a fee, plucks ducks clean. And, in her spare time, she runs the local museum, a folksy repository of many things St. Charles.
Tucked into a back corner of the museum, which shares space with the Town Hall, is an exhibit featuring the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps. It chronicles the construction work done by the young, dollar-a-day men of Company 1741 and Company 3791 who helped create a national wildlife refuge from the bottomlands of the White River.
Black History Month
February is Black History Month, and DEC joins the rest of the nation in paying tribute to African American men and women whose significant contributions are woven into the fabric of America s culture. Below DEC is bringing attention to some of the most prolific environmental game changers of yesterday and today.
Paying Tribute to a Legacy
Members of the Civilian Conservation Corps
Unit 1251 C II in the 1930s.
In 1933, to combat the turmoil from the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and enlisted thousands of men and women to undertake public works projects and battle significant environmental issues. To address the impact of poor farming practices, deforestation, and destructive pests that destroyed thousands of acres of usable land across the nation, the CCC worked to reforest an estimated one million acres of land to help solve these crises.