The Civilian Conservation Corps, begun as a Depression-era work program, became an important building block of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Wildlife Refuge System. In 1939, seven thousand Corps participants worked at 35 camps in 27 states and helped create 53 new national wildlife refuges. Housed in large camps, the workers transformed barren land into vibrant wildlife areas by constructing nesting islands, planting vegetation for marshes and forests, and building fire lookout towers, roads, and service buildings that made refuge management easier and safer for wildlife. During its nine-year existence, more than 3,000,000 young men, primarily ages 18 to 26, enrolled for six-month periods, often reenlisting, and were paid $30 a month, with $25 sent directly to their families. Enrollment peaked in 1935 at 500,000 men in 2,600 camps across every state. From 1933 to 1942, eight million acres were acquired for wildlife and conservation use, and the Corps played a vital role in converting previously unused land into valuable habitat, also benefiting lands managed by the Office of Indian Affairs, the Division of Grazing, and the Bureau of Reclamation. Though most CCC camps no longer exist, their legacy endures in the wildlife refuges and national parks they helped create. At Rice Lake, camp number 2705, built in 1939 and dismantled in 1941, housed 200 young men, whose early work included removing railroad tracks once used to haul virgin timber to local sawmills and converting that route into a road followed today by the refuge's main entrance road and part of the Wildlife Drive.