With the coronavirus pandemic having resurrected a Depression-like economic downturn, it may be time for us to consider reviving some Depression-era solutions.
Hawaii brought back Franklin D. Roosevelt’s successful Civilian Conservation Corps as the Aina (Hawaiian for “land”) Corps. The new program, like its predecessor, focuses on ecological and economic conservation. Participants are paid $15 an hour and provided health care, according to NPR, and the program is funded with CARES Act money.
West Virginia should look to implement a similar program, using the CCC and the Aina Corps as a starting point.
The original CCC did everything from maintain parks and trails to planting trees to fighting fires. The idea was to give young people an opportunity to earn a living doing important and dignified work. But West Virginia can do even more.
With our myriad parks and forests, there are tons of opportunities for conservation work using both skilled and unskilled labor. For tradesmen and recent high school graduates looking to bypass college, there would be plenty of hands-on opportunities. The core of the original CCC was work that had a tangible impact and that didn’t require education to complete. People would have the chance to create a concrete legacy, something they can show their descendants and proudly say, “I helped do that.”
But we think that, this time around, there is space for college-educated and degree-holding workers as well. Our modern era revolves around technology and West Virginia’s economy is leaning more and more toward clean energy and tourism. As boots-on-the-ground conservation efforts start, people who studied STEM can begin to work together to see how our natural resources can best be used: Are there spaces for hydroelectric dams or windmills? Would timbering in a specific section lessen potential fire risk? Is there an economic and environmentally friendly way to use any byproducts of conservation efforts?
But there’s a place for the arts, too, in a revived CCC. West Virginia’s national and state parks are tourist attractions, to be sure, but there’s an art to drawing in visitors. It takes promotional and educational materials, which require great writing and often eye-catching art. An attractive but easily navigable website is a key marketing tool, the creation of which combines artistic aesthetic and technical skills. As we look toward spring, outdoor entertainment venues will become central to giving us the feel of normal life while still being cautious as we wait for COVID-19 to run its course. Live performances — music, theater, spoken word, storytelling — will add a new dynamic to the park experience.
Reviving and expanding the CCC would give us an opportunity to put West Virginians — from backgrounds, skill sets and education levels — back to work. It’s unclear if time is out to use CARES Act money to finance such a venture. Regardless, we hope our governor, our senators and our representatives will put in the effort to obtain funds that could be used to create such an economic opportunity in the Mountain State.
