Waiting for a New Deal job program? These US parks are already hiring

As unemployment soars, local governments and non-profits have created conservation jobs in the Roosevelt mold

Danielle Johnson spends up to six hours a day working in a wooded section of Table Rock state park in South Carolina, navigating rough terrain in the hot sun to clear brush, tamp down dirt and make way for the park's first new trail in 80 years.

This is not her usual gig. Until the pandemic hit, she was a rock-climbing and whitewater rafting instructor. There are others working alongside her who are also newly unemployed: a realtor, bartender and a sales representative for an outdoor outfitter.