The Hanson family’s corps experience spans three generations. Harley and Adam Hanson will celebrate their Corps history at the Civilian Conservation Corps 75th anniversary event on June 8 at St. Paul’s Phalen Park.

In 1939, Harley’s father Vernon enrolled in CCC Company 719 in St. Louis County. Vernon’s father had been killed in a work-related accident, and his mother was left to support and raise seven children in southern Minnesota. As Harley recalls, “He heard about the CCC from townspeople, both the money and ‘something to do' interested him, and meals, clothing and a roof over his head didn’t sound too bad either.”

The CCC helped Vernon provide relief for his family. “Knowing her son was being looked after up north and receiving the money … must have helped take some of the load off my grandmother’s strong shoulders,” Hanson says. CCC enrollees sent $25 home a month.

In 1979, Harley carried on the tradition by serving as an original crew leader of the Minnesota Young Adult Conservation Corps. Although he was considering other adventures, his father nudged him towards the corps, and his experience led to a 25-year career in natural resource management. “I should call [my father] and thank him for every day I spend in the woods…and get paid for it,” says Harley, a DNR North Shore parks specialist. His brother also served in conservation corps.

Harley’s son Adam, inspired by family legacies, joined MCC in 2006 as a Young Adult Program corpsmember. He served on MCC’s Duluth roving crew for two years and now works with a prescribed burning crew.

Harley hopes the corps tradition continues. “I’ve got two young grandsons. And whether or not they enroll in a 2025 version of a conservation corps, I hope that the option exists for kids coming of age … to build bridges, literally and figuratively, in the great outdoors.”