Civilian Conservation Corps Camp - Sand Lake

What the enrollees cleared grew into a refuge of international standing. On August 3, 1998, Sand Lake was designated a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention, one of two American sites announced that spring. Its marshes, fed by the James River through Mud and Sand Lakes, hold the largest nesting colony of Franklin's gulls in the world, along with western grebes, white pelicans and migrating snow geese. The refuge, set aside in 1935 as a breeding ground for migratory birds, still covers about 21,500 acres, close to the bronze's figure.

What the plaque says

Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Camp BF-2 (Sand Lake): 2 1/2 miles W and 2 1/2 miles S at headquarters. Company: 2749--6/28/35-7/31/39. The Civilian Conservation Corps was a federal work- relief program during the Great Depression. From 1933 to 1942, the CCC provided work for 31,097 jobless men in South Dakota--about 22,000 enrollees (single men aged 17-25), about 1,700 veterans, 4,554 American Indians and 2,834 super- visors. The U.S. Army provided 200-man camps, food, clothing, medical care and pay, and educational, recreational and reli- gious programs. The Office of Indian Affairs provided similar services for units on Indian reservations. BF-2, supervised by the Bureau of Biological Survey, created the 21,451-acre Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge and started the 3,248-acre Waubay Waterfowl Refuge. Enrollees had to clear the land of buildings, rubble and 200 miles of fence before constructing several dams, roads and trails, headquarters buildings and the 100-foot observation tower. They created islands to form channels to protect nesting and resting birds and to circulate river water in dry periods. They planted trees, ground cover and food crops. Tens of thousands of waterfowl are hatched and hundreds of thousands of migrating waterfowl rest each year at the 5,000-acre Mud and 6,000-acre Sand Lakes. Erected in 1990 by CCC Alumni, the South Dakota State Historical Society, the State Department of Transportation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

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