NONFEDERAL AREAS BENEFITED Camps were established on several non-Federal areas for the first time. Work on State, county, and metropolitan parks included projects for roads, picnic areas, and campgrounds, and facilities for swimming, hiking, camping, and similar activities. Important projects were also carried out for the protection and comfort of park visitors, such as water and sanitation systems, service and administration buildings, telephone lines, parking areas, fences, and guard rails. Historical preservation and restoration was also a feature of nonFederal area work. Construction of a 200-foot log truss suspension bridge over the Spokane River was one of the outstanding C. C. C. jobs at Riverside State Park, Washington. In Watkins Glen State Park, New York, a smaller but equally useful bridge was built, in addition to fireplaces and picnic-ground development. Fifteen acres of beach were improved at Provo River Metropolitan Park in Utah and a vehicular bridge completed in the same area. An archery range was built by enrollees in Brown County State Park, Indiana, where recreational use increased tremendously as a result of C. C. C.-built facilities. To meet the increasing popularity of horseback riding, the Corps developed horse trails in 31 State, county, and metropolitan parks during the year. Outstanding were such projects in Moran State Park, Washington; the Akron Metropolitan Park system in Ohio; Clarence Fahnestock Memorial State Park, New York; and Cook County Forest Preserve District system, Illinois. Four miles of entrance road and a 3-acre tent site were completed in Westmoreland State Park, Virginia. The Robert Fechner Recreation Area in Georgia, named for the first Director of the C. C. C., now deceased, was improved by the development of picnic grounds and shelters. The C. C. C. contributed substantially to the continued development of Federal Recreational Demonstration Areas. Camps assigned to 22 of these areas worked on construction of buildings, utilities, roads, trails, swimming facilities, dams, and other projects for the safety and convenience of users. IN THE TERRITORIES In Territorial work, 675 enrollees were assigned to 5 projects in Hawaii, 225 additional enrollees were at work in Hawaii National Park, and 500 were assigned to jobs in the Virgin Islands. In addition, a 200-man company was at work in Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska, during the summer of 1939. Territorial camps in Hawaii carried out tree planting and tree nursery work, as well as development of an experimental bird and game farm. In Hawaii National Park they constructed an underground telephone system and worked on planting and landscaping, removal of exotic plants, and erosion control. In the Virgin Islands, work included construction of minor roads, parking areas, fences, picnic areas, and telephone lines. Fire hazard reduction and field planting were also important projects, as well as eradication and control of undesirable animals. Good progress was made in landscaping of the service area and construction of necessary water and telephone lines and buildings at Mount McKinley National Park. RANGE REHABILITATION ADVANCED Excellent progress in a joint program for the rehabilitation of youth and the public range is reported by the Grazing Service. Construction and preventive programs designed to facilitate the control and use of lands under this Service were carried out in Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Wyoming. Stock users generally acclaim the benefits derived from such physical improvements as wells, springs, fencing, corrals, truck and stock trails, and correlated activities which contribute to the conservation and preservation of forage coverage, such as rodent and fire control, and reclaiming measures such as erosion and flood control and watershed protection. Minor roads, trucks and stock trails, and waterstorage improvements constructed primarily for stock purposes also can serve, with a little additional work on them, to facilitate travel in much of this semiarid area. COOPERATE IN WILDLIFE CONSERVATION Under supervision of the Biological Survey (which became the Fish and Wildlife Service on July 1, 1940) an average of 35 camps worked in 27 States from Maine to California and from North Dakota to Louisiana. Development programs vary at each wildlife refuge, because of differences in water supply, climate, rainfall, and topography, although in the main the work was a continuation of previous activities. Projects included the construction of dams, dikes, levees, ditches, and other water-control structures, nesting islands, wildlife shelters, truck trails, bridges, lookout towers, fire lanes, telephone lines, headquarters, laboratories, and utility buildings, fences, and boundary markers; the planting of marsh and aquatic vegetation and of trees, shrubs, vines, and soil-binding grasses; and other biological or engineering work necessary for the restoration, development, and efficient management of refuge areas. All such areas have been much improved and many have been transformed from biological deserts to refuges of great attractiveness to wildlife. Of special importance was the work done on the Savannah River Refuge in South Carolina where the Corps began work in 1935. By the close of the 1940 fiscal year they had created 3,385 acres of excellent duck ponds with permanent dykes and control structures insuring stable water levels necessary for the abundant growth of food and cover. Refuge patrol has been facilitated by the erection of fences and boundary markers and the construction of roads and trails. T DIVISION OF TERRITORIES AND ISLAND POSSESSIONS Rupert Emerson, Director HE war in Europe and the continuance of the conflict between Japan and China brought an expansion of administrative activities by the Division of Territories and Island Possessions during the past fiscal year. With national attention focused upon all the Territories and possessions as points of vital strategic importance for the defense of these areas and of the continental United States, the Division cooperated fully with other Government agencies in providing facilities for such defense. Alaska particularly has loomed as a potential point of invasion by air; as a consequence, the Division assisted in steps to provide protective Army and Navy bases which are being rushed to completion at various strategic points in the Territory. Of particular significance to the defense of Alaska is the proposed legislation (S. 3577) strongly recommended by the Department of the Interior, which would make possible the organization of limiteddividend corporations to develop and colonize this sparsely settled Territory whose population averages only about one person to each 10 square miles. The proposed colonization program would provide a "defense behind the defense" in the form of manpower, in the case of actual combat, and an active population to furnish needed supplies to the regular troops which will be stationed in Alaska in connection with the new bases. The Division also participated in coordinated plans for strengthening the military defenses of Puerto Rico, one of the bulwarks of protection for the Panama Canal, the establishment of a submarine base at the Virgin Islands as another link in the chain of Caribbean defenses, and the augmenting of preparedness measures in Hawaii, base of operations of the Pacific fleet. During the year the Division continued its administrative functions of coordinating the Federal activities relating to Alaska, Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands; also the Alaska Railroad; Alaska Road Commission, the economic and social program of the Virgin Islands Co., and the colonization projects on Jarvis, Baker, Howland, Canton, and Enderbury Islands in the Pacific Ocean. |