PROCLAMATION
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
WHEREAS, the California Conservation Corps was created by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. with legislation signed on July 7, 1976, and
WHEREAS, Governor Brown envisioned a program modeled after the 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps, but also reflecting “a combination Jesuit seminary, Israeli kibbutz and Marine Corps boot camp,” and
WHEREAS, the California Conservation Corps would put young men and women to work, improving and protecting the state’s natural resources and assisting with disaster response, and
WHEREAS, corpsmembers would work hard and earn minimum wage, prompting the late CCC Director B.T. Collins to coin the Corps’ motto: “Hard work, low pay, miserable conditions … and more!” and
WHEREAS, since 1976, 115,000 corpsmembers have taken on the CCC’s challenging motto, and
WHEREAS, since the CCC was created, its corpsmembers have provided more than 67 million hours of conservation work throughout California, and
WHEREAS, accomplishments have included planting 21 million trees; constructing or repairing 9,779 miles of backcountry trails; improving more than 1800 miles of salmon and steelhead habitat; auditing and retrofitting 25 million square feet of public buildings; and devoting nearly 12 million hours to building or improving parks, and
WHEREAS, the CCC may be best known for its emergency response work, with crews dispatched throughout the state for floods, fires, earthquakes, oil spills and pest infestations, and
WHEREAS, one out of every five CCC work hours is devoted to disaster response, a total of 9.6 million hours of assistance since 1976, and
WHEREAS, the CCC has provided thousands of hours of recovery efforts after the Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes, and after the Oakland Hills fire, and assisted with fire rehabilitation efforts following major wildfires throughout the state, and
WHEREAS, CCC crews have fought floods from north to south, filling more than 3.5 million sandbags since 1976, and
WHEREAS, all corpsmembers work to advance their education while in the CCC, many earning high school diplomas or qualifying for scholarships, and
WHEREAS, the CCC has provided career direction to thousands of corpsmembers, and after leaving the CCC, many are hired by land management agencies; others have become teachers, firefighters, law enforcement officers and small business owners, and
WHEREAS, many alumni indicate their time in the CCC has encouraged them to continue to volunteer and serve their communities, decades after their corpsmember days, and
WHEREAS, many former corpsmembers look back on their CCC days as the best time of their lives, and now, numerous sons and daughters of earlier corpsmembers have joined the program as second-generation corpsmembers, and
WHEREAS, over the last 35 years, both California and the corpsmembers themselves have benefited from the CCC, and
WHEREAS, the CCC has played a leadership role in the development of corps programs throughout the nation, with 158 corps programs located in cities and states throughout the country, including 13 local nonprofit conservation corps in California, and
WHEREAS, the California Conservation Corps has significantly impacted corpsmember lives as well as improved California’s natural resources and recreational opportunities for many years to come,
NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim November 3, 2011, as “California Conservation Corps Day.”
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 2nd day of November 2011.
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EDMUND G. BROWN JR.
Governor of California
ATTEST:
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DEBRA BOWEN
Secretary of State