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Virtually from its onset, the CCC program was subjected to criticism. Late in , a Saturday Evening Post editorial accused the program, and its approximately , young men, of “Manicuring the Wilderness.” While admitting the program “has accomplished much in the way of fire prevention, erosion control, road building and similar forest and park improvements,” it cautioned that “there are almost certain to be unnecessary projects . . . and there is a tendency at times to overmanicure the wilderness.”1 The CCC camp at Peninsula State Park was controversial from its very beginning. Upon hearing of the project, concerned residents of Ephraim and Fish Creek “entered a protest against a camp being located” at the park.2 Even Jens Jensen entered the controversy. By now he had broken ground to start his “School of the Soil,” The Clearing, where he would became a frequent critic of the park’s policies. Regarding the CCC camp, he wrote a stinging letter to Governor Philip La Follette stating, “I have searched my mind as to why it is to be there.” He was concerned that their “cleaning up” work would “destroy the last wilderness left,” in the park, and he urged that instead they “reforest the poor lands of Door County.”3 The Advocate expressed the opposite view. A week after the first CCC crew arrived, it declared that “Door County is fortunate in having this camp established within its borders, as it means many improvements in both Peninsula and Potawatomi parks that would not otherwise have been possible.”4 Two weeks later, referring to Jensen as “a Chicagoan, who spends his summers in Door County,” the newspaper emphasized that the park had areas of thick underbrush, and clearing it away would remove fire hazards. Striking back in two separate letters to the editor, the distinguished park designer questioned the purpose and management of the park. It should be,            he  ontroversy he stated in his usual poetic manner, “first of all, a place different from the man-made world where man may find and enjoy and study the work of the Great Master. It is also, or should be, a natural monument of outstanding character. . . . The thought that man can improve on the Master’s Work, and thereby make it more fitting to himself, is only possible for those who lack an understanding of its true and profound value.” Concerned by past “abuses” he had observed in park management, he went on to add that he had seen “camping grounds that are nothing less than slums, . . . a cleaning up . . . which destroys the very sustenance of the trees, . . . foreign trees unfitted to this environment, planted in [Peninsula] State Park, . . . [and] roads built for the sightseeing crowd, barring wild life from reaching the water and penetrating their secret haunts.”5 Other noted conservationists were also expressing concerns. Aldo Leopold, for example, was warning against excessive brush cutting and development of fire lanes in wild areas. Early the following year, the Door County News, the Advocate’s rival newspaper , praised the work of the camp in a lengthy front-page article entitled “Fine Service Rendered County by CCC Camp.” The dispatch began: “Stability —permanency—usefulness! Such is the impression gained by a casual visitor to Peninsula camp of the Civilian Conservation Corps in Peninsula State Park.” It went on to describe life at Camp Peninsula and the projects the young men there were completing. “Peninsula camp has brought about a great improvement in tourist conditions in Peninsula State Park,” it concluded , “and local people feel that every encouragement should be given to make it permanent.”6 On the eve of the newspaper’s account, the Gibraltar Men’s Club, an organization of Fish Creek residents, adopted a scathing anticamp resolution. The News published it one week later, as follows: No one can point to any benefit to anyone locally, and practically everyone is agreed that the establishment of the camp in this community has worked out to be a detriment to the State Park, the villages of Ephraim and Fish Creek, and the tourist business in the county and state. The beautiful new shop and garage . . . consists now of a pile of stone, which will probably have to be moved away at state expense. Trails are half finished. Camping grounds a mile long are half finished and no water or toilet facilities have been provided. . . . A natural scenic rock garden was destroyed to provide boulders for the construction of a panoramic view. Fearing that the CCC contemplated...

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