Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was an agency authorized by the government to hire unemployed young men for public conservation work. It was set up as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program in 1933 to provide employment during the "Great Depression." The CCC conserved and developed natural resources by such activities as planting trees, building dams, and fighting forest fires. More than 2 million men served in the corps during its existence. Congress abolished the CCC in 1942.