The Ouachita Civilian Conservation Center, located west of Hot Springs in the Ouachita National Forest, joined the Arkansas FireWise Team on May 6, 2008.  A team made up of Jeff Organ, Fire Management Officer, Ouachita Civilian Conservation Center; Ben Rowland, Fire Management Officer, Caddo-Womble Ranger District, Ouachita National Forest; Ron Van Wechel, Lead Instructor, Ouachita CCC, Ouachita National Forest; and David Samuel, FireWise Coordinator, Arkansas Forestry Commission conducted risk assessments from wildland fire of the two homes and all facilities at the center.

Most of the center is low risk, but the assessement team found several mitigation projects that would further lower the center's risk. Four major projects will be implemented: extend and maintain approximately 50 feet of defensible space on the west side of the lower residence, establish defensible space on the south side of two wooden frame buildings, conduct a control burn along the south side of the center in cooperation with the Caddo-Womble ranger district, and consider thinning the overstory in several areas around structures by adding the timber to an upcoming, marked sale.

The mitigation projects to establish adequate defensible space around all structures as discussed by the assessment team will be done by the Urban Forestry Class under the leadership of Instructors Ron Van Wechel and Motak Abon.  Jeff Organ and Ben Rowland will be developing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), Burning Plans and meeting NEPA requirements.

 

The Urban Forestry Class will be doing the hard work to make Ouachita CCC the first FireWise Job Corps Center in the country. Members of the crew were presented Arkansas FireWise Communities pins for their contributions to Arkansas FireWise. The class has also offered to assist the Cass Job Corp Center, located in the Ozark National Forest, if mitigation work is needed. 

According to Wikipedia.org, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a work relief program for young men from unemployed families, established on March 21, 1933 by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As part of Roosevelt's New Deal legislation, it was designed to combat unemployment during the Great Depression. The CCC became one of the most popular New Deal programs among the general public and operated in every U.S. state and several territories. The separate Indian Division was a major relief force for Native American reservations.

The CCC lost importance as the Depression ended about 1945. Initial opposition to the program was primarily from organized labor, but as unemployment fell, so did the need for the CCC.[1] After the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan in 1941, national attention shifted away from domestic issues in favor of the war effort. Rather than formally disbanding the CCC, the 77th United States Congress ceased funding it after the 1942 fiscal year, causing it to end operations.

The original CCC was closed in 1942 but it became a model for state agencies that opened in the 1970s. Today, corps are state and local programs that engage primarily youth and young adults (ages 16-25) in full-time community service, training and educational activities. The nation’s 111 corps operate in multiple communities across 41 states and the District of Columbia. In 2004, they enrolled over 23,000 young people. The Corps Network, originally known as the National Association of Service and Conservation Corps (NASCC) works to expand and enhance the corps movement throughout America. The Corps Network took shape in 1985, when the nation's first 24 Corps directors banded together to secure an advocate at the Federal level and a central clearinghouse of information on how to start and run "best practice"-based corps. Early support from the Ford, Hewlett and Mott Foundations was critical to launching the Association. The Corps Network has grown to encompass 113 Corps programs, both urban and rural, and has assisted in the birth of virtually all of these Corps.

Another similar program is the National Civilian Community Corps, part of the AmeriCorps program, a team-based national service program to which 18- to 24-year-olds dedicate 10 months of their time annually. (All CCC information obtained from Wikipedia.org.)

The Ouachita Civilian Conservation Center at will be recognized at FireWise on the Mountain II, scheduled for October 29, 2008, at Mount Magazine State Park Lodge.

To see pictures of before and after pictures of the Urban Forestry Class' FireWise efforts click here.

 

 

 

Pictured from left to right are Jeff Organ, Fire Management Officer, Ouachita CCC, Ouachita National Forest; Ben Rowland, Fire Management Officer, Caddo-Womble Ranger District, Ouachita National Forest; and Ron Van Wechel, Lead Instructor, Ouachita CCC, Ouachita National Forest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Masonry is just one of the skills taught to students during basic training at Ouachita CCC.