Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president of the United States during an extremely difficult and stressful time. During his time as president, FDR put the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in place. This was part of his large plan to restore the US economy, known as the New Deal.
The CCC provided jobs for 2.5 million unemployed people, but was just as well known for its positive impact on the environment. The workers of the CCC were paid to do tasks such as planting millions of trees, protecting forests from wildfires, opening summer camps, improving national and state parks, and battling soil erosion.
Roosevelt's plans for protecting the environment were largely influenced by the Dust Bowl of the American Midwest, which occurred during the middle of the 1930s. During this period, poor agricultural practices and severe drought caused millions of tons of soil to blow into the atmosphere. FDR created the Soil Conservation Service and initiated the Shelterbelt Project, as well as many smaller projects, to help put an end to the dust bowl by restoring the soil and preventing further erosion or drought.
Although Roosevelt did much work to protect the soil, he also created many other acts and projects to protect the environment, such as the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act. Another project was the Tennessee Valley Authority, an organization that created jobs and restored a hydroelectric power plant in the Tennessee River Valley.
One of FDR's most notable projects was the creation of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469 mile highway wandering through the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, which created thousands ofjobs and was built with the environment in mind.
Through Franklin Delano Roosevelt's many projects and his enthusiasm for the conservation of nature, a foundation for protecting the environment was laid, upon which environmentalists continue to build on today.