WUNC.com reports that “The U.S. military has joined forces with environmental groups to preserve natural habitats. More than 400 threatened and endangered species are benefiting, and so is the Pentagon.”

“In the past two decades, the U.S. military has quietly built a huge national conservation network by developing formal — and once unlikely — partnerships with environmental groups, universities, local governments, zoos, and even prison systems.”

“They’re protecting hundreds of rare species – butterflies in North Carolina, Washington, and Pennsylvania; manatees in Georgia; and dozens of birds and fish around the country.”