1933 - Environment

Environment

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) created by Congress March 31 under the Unemployment Relief Act (Reforestation) will enlist more than 3 million young men in the next 8 years. The CCC will plant more than 2 billion trees, build small dams, aid in wildlife restoration, and tackle erosion problems not only in the continental United States but also in Puerto Rico and other U.S. possessions (see 1935).

Drought continues on the southern plains, and dust storms increase in number and intensity (see 1932). Strong winds blow away topsoil and drive sand into houses, obliging desperate families in rural areas to hang wet sheets over windows and make other efforts to keep out the dirt, which still gets into food and lungs (see agriculture [dust storms], 1934).

A Soil Erosion Service started by the U.S. Department of Agriculture helps farmers learn tilling methods that will minimize erosion. The seriousness of the problem gains recognition when a great dust storm November 11 to 13 sweeps South Dakota topsoil as far east as Albany, N.Y. (see 1909; 1935).

The new Tennessee Valley Authority will erect dams to control floods in the Tennessee Valley region, and the federal government will build 24 new dams and cuts on the upper Mississippi River between Minnesota and Cairo, Ill., to reduce flooding (see Flood Control Act, 1928; but see also 1993).

An earthquake in Japan's Sanriku prefecture March 2 leaves 2,990 dead; a quake in China August 25 kills an estimated 10,000.

China's Huanghe (Yellow River) floods its banks, as it does most years, but this time it creates such devastation that 18,300 are killed (see 1957).

Oregon's Tillamook Burn in August wipes out 12 billion board feet of virgin timber. Friction from a falling tree has touched off the fire that advances along an 18-mile front, littering beaches for 30 miles with charred fragments and raining still smoldering debris on ships 100 miles at sea.