Buckley Space Force Base restoring butterfly habitat [Video]

AURORA, Colo. — The Department of Defense isn’t the first group you’d usually think of when it comes to wildlife conservation, but that’s what they’re doing at Buckley Space Force Base. Wildlife biologists there are helping make their land a more comfortable home for monarch butterflies.

Each year, the butterflies migrate 2,000 miles across North America, many stopping in Colorado.

“One of the things about Monarchs is we have quite a bit of data on them, again because they do gather in one spot and allow us to count them,” said Mercy Manzanares, program coordinator with Monarch Joint Venture. “Over the last 20 years, they’ve declined anywhere between 48-69% within the Eastern population and then the Western population has really declined. They’ve declined by 99%.”

The Department of Defense is working with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the non-profit the Monarch Joint Venture, to restore 1,000 acres …