The Civilian Conservation Corps was established in 1933 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program. During the Great Depression, when the stock market crash and ensuing business closures left many Americans desperately looking for work, the program employed young men ages 17 to 28 on projects throughout the nation’s public parks and forests. About 3,800 of these men worked in California’s state parks, constructing roads, trails, campgrounds, visitor centers, and other facilities. Their work in California’s state parks is distinguished by a distinctive rustic appearance, a style adapted over the years and still used today. Using local natural materials and hand craftsmanship, they created buildings and other structures that blended into the surrounding landscape. Many of the buildings, structures, and landscape features built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s still stand today as a legacy of the challenging and strenuous work performed by these young men.