During the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps employed young men in a national work program. Across the nation, camps housed and fed them while they built dams, roads, fire towers, and recreation areas on publicly owned land. They fought forest fires and replanted acres of cut-over timber lands. The nation benefited from new roads and structures, families received money sent home that kept them off government subsistence, and local communities benefited from increased commerce brought by the young enrollees and camp workers.