Conservation Corps: Pairing Climate Action with Economic Opportunity

This fact sheet from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute examines the history, economic and environmental benefits, funding mechanisms, and legislative landscape of conservation corps in the United States, highlighting their role in climate action and workforce development.

• Conservation corps are work programs that employ various groups, including youths, veterans, and seniors, to perform conservation, resilience, and sustainability tasks across the United States. These programs engage in activities such as disaster response, coastal restoration, invasive species control, and energy efficiency improvements.
• The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), established in 1933 as part of the New Deal, served as the first federal program of its kind, employing 3.4 million men in land improvement by the time it disbanded in 1942. A separate program for women, the She-She-She Camps, was created in 1936 and hosted approximately 8,600 women.
• Corps programs provide significant economic returns and cost efficiencies. Every dollar invested in national parks returns $10 to the economy, and national service programs like AmeriCorps return $17 in social benefits for every dollar invested. Additionally, federal land management agencies have saved an average of 65 percent by using corps instead of their own crews and 83 percent compared to contractor crews.
• Beyond environmental work, corps support workforce development by providing hard skills and credentials in specialized fields such as solar panel installation, energy auditing, green construction, hazardous material abatement, wilderness firefighting, and trail construction.
• Funding for corps is diverse, including federal maintenance budgets from agencies like the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service, and grants from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). In 2020, CNCS provided $576 million in AmeriCorps funding, supporting over 60,000 members.
• State-level funding varies, with some states using federal grants like the Recreational Trails Program. Specific state budget allocations include $195 million for the California Conservation Corps in the 2020-21 budget and $1.3 million for the Washington Conservation Corps in the 2019-21 budget.
• Recent executive and legislative actions aim to expand corps' impact. President Joe Biden's January 27, 2021, executive order called for a Civilian Climate Corps Initiative to mobilize conservation and resilience workers. Other legislative efforts include the John Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act of 2019, which established the Indian Youth Service Corps.
• Several proposed bills seek massive expansions of national service: the Pandemic Response and Opportunity Through National Service Act (S.3624) proposed 750,000 positions over three years, the CORPS Act (S.3964) proposed 250,000, and the RENEW Conservation Corps Act (S.4538) proposed over $55 billion to employ one million Americans.

APA

Environmental and Energy Study Institute (2021). Conservation Corps: Pairing Climate Action with Economic Opportunity. https://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_Conservation_Corps_2021.pdf

Chicago

Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Conservation Corps: Pairing Climate Action with Economic Opportunity. 2021. https://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_Conservation_Corps_2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |title=Conservation Corps: Pairing Climate Action with Economic Opportunity |date=February 2021 |url=https://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_Conservation_Corps_2021.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{environmentalandenergystudyinstitute2021conservation, author = {{Environmental and Energy Study Institute}}, title = {{Conservation Corps: Pairing Climate Action with Economic Opportunity}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2021}, month = feb, url = {https://www.eesi.org/files/FactSheet_Conservation_Corps_2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }