Tucked away in a thinly populated part of Southeastern Arizona lies a national treasure. Chiricahua National Monument comprises over 11,000 acres of mountainous terrain filled with rock hoodoos, standing/balancing rocks and lovely pine/oak/sycamore canyons interspersed with cacti and mesquite from the surrounding desert. An attractive natural rock visitor center built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) greets people to this inspiring place.

As one of the sky islands–an isolated mountain range surrounded by desert– of the southwestern U.S., this national monument attracts birds from Mexico including the Mexican Jay, Mexican Chickadee and Montezuma Quail. It is a stunningly beautiful landscape that is so dense with vertical rock formations that it provided an excellent hiding place for the likes of Geronimo, Cochise and their Apache tribes persecuted by U.S. government troops.

Recently, my wife and hiked, birded and botanized in this natural paradise for two days. It was the fifth time that I had been there and the third time for Lori. We would both return in a heartbeat.

While exploring this national monument, we could not help but notice the impressive handiwork of the CCC. They built trails, stairs, bridges and the visitor center here in a very solid, yet artistic way using natural materials. Much of the CCC’s work remains today in this and other national parks and monuments in every state of the union, as well as in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Inside the Chiricahua National Monument visitor center that CCC built more than 80 years ago is a simple but remarkable display that chronicles the CCC’s history. A book by Stan Cohen The Tree Army provides a photo-illustrated history of the CCC. In just nine years from 1933-1942, the 3.4 million who were enrolled in the CCC accomplished a great deal, including:

40 million acres of farmland erosion control projects
13,100 miles of foot trails
800 state parks developed
53,000 acres of public campgrounds
3,980 historic restoration structures
More than 2 billion trees planted

The estimated total value of the CCC’s work in 1942 dollars was $2 billion. This does not account for the lives changed, improved or in some cases, rehabilitated in the midst of the Great Depression. I recall hearing about CCC from one of its veterans while working for my father in my early 20s. He spoke in glowing terms of his days working at Glacier National Park and of his burning desire to return.

But why does a productive and constructive program like the CCC have to be relegated to a distant memory, enshrined by the many good works it left behind? At a time when homeless, jobless, traumatized veterans, residents and refugees camp in our streets, walkways and parks, wouldn’t we benefit from a program that fed and sheltered them, put them to work and taught them job skills while improving our nation’s infrastructure? Among other useful things, they could serve as a modern-day Tree Army, planting trees to uptake carbon dioxide and provide oxygen to address climate change.

This would be a fine time to resurrect the CCC. I for one would love to see my tax dollars invested in the improvement of people’s lives and the stewardship of our natural and cultural resources.