Editing War Relocation Authority (section)

==Selection of camp sites==
The WRA considered 300 potential sites before settling on a total of ten camp locations, mostly on [[Indian reservation|tribal lands]]. Site selection was based upon multiple criteria, including:
*Ability to provide work in public works, agriculture, manufacturing.
*Adequate transportation, power facilities, sufficient area of quality soil, water, and climate
*Able to house at least 5,000 people
*Public land<ref>"The Evacuation of the Japanese." Population Index 8.3 (July 1942): 166-8.</ref>

The camps had to be built from the ground up, and wartime shortages of labor and lumber combined with the vast scope of each construction project (several of the WRA camps were among the largest "cities" in the states that housed them) meant that many sites were unfinished when transfers began to arrive from the assembly centers. At Manzanar, for example, internees were recruited to help complete construction.<ref name=Robinson/>