The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men. Originally for young men ages 18–25, it was eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal that provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state, and local governments. The CCC was designed to provide jobs for young men and to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States. Maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000. Through the course of its nine years in operation, 3 million young men participated in the CCC, which provided them with shelter, clothing, and food, together with a wage of $30 per month, part of which had to be sent home to their families. The CCC camps in Idaho numbered 51. Crews worked on projects in national, state and private forests as well as for the soil conservation service and in state parks.

In Idaho, the first CCC camp open on 6 June 1933 on the North Fork of the Clearwater and was called Camp Prichard. Over the course of the program in Idaho, over 87,000 enrollees were assigned to hundreds of camps across the state. Merry Creek Civilian Conservation Corp camp was opened in Clarkia, Idaho in 16 April 1934.