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I'm Joel Sartore , a national 

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geographic photographer and founder of 

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the Photo Ark . And you'll never guess 

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where I am . Van Den Berg Space Force 

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Base . Beautiful , isn't it ? 

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You probably don't know this . But the 

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Department of Defense is actually one 

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of the greatest stewards of wildlife in 

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the world . That's because they need 

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natural areas just like this one . In 

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order to conduct realistic testing and 

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training , the Vanderberg Space Force 

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Base is absolutely vital to our 

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nation's defense . It is the only 

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location in the Department of Defense 

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where we can operationally test 

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intercontinental ballistic missiles for 

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our nation's nuclear deterrent 

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capability . Put rockets into space at 

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a minimal cost and to launch our 

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missiles into our operational test 

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locations in the Pacific is un mashed . 

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It is amazing how we have side by side 

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missions that are generally speaking , 

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high risk operations . You can launch a 

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huge rocket with lots of high explosive 

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fuel and just literally feet down the 

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road . You could have endangered 

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species habitat that is coexisting in 

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the same place . And that's amazing to 

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me that we can create an environment 

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where these animals can continue to 

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thrive in their natural habitat . While 

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at the same time conduct these missions 

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to most military bases . It's not all 

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craters and scorched earth . It's 

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actually a working breathing landscape 

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and often the only habitat left for 

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threatened and endangered species . 

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More than 500 of them on Department of 

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Defense lands across the United States 

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and Us territories . 

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And one of the biggest bonuses the 

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conservation of these wild places . 

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It's a win win for the military and for 

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nature and the Department of Defense 

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means it when they say we care , this 

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is part of our mission as well . 

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Vandenberg's living proof . Think about 

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what the rest of the coastline looks 

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like in southern California . It 

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doesn't look like this . Just about 

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100,000 acres of intact habitat for 

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threatened and endangered species . 

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It's an imperative that they save 

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nature and they work every day to do so 

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here , tidewater gobies , they're not 

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very big . The habitat that 

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supports these little critters is rare 

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with the Department of Defense being 

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such a large landowner . I see them 

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really as stewards of putting back the 

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pieces that have been taken apart . I 

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mean , we have almost 100,000 acres 

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here . Here we go . Ok . So we got a 

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nice thing out here taking care of the 

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least among us is a big deal to me . 

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And that's why we do these pictures 

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this way because they're all the same 

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size . So goby is as big as a tiger in 

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these pictures . The way that Joel is 

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able to capture the personality of 

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these animals . They shine . When , 

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when you do the portrait photography 

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like Joel is doing , it was critical 

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that we share the military mission that 

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we're supporting first and through Joel 

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to help tell the story of just the 

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awesome critters that we manage on a 

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daily basis . Overall , the 

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Department of Defense manages nearly 27 

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million acres of land in all 50 states 

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and us territories . 

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I just , these 

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folks are here to support the dod 

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mission , but they can do that while 

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protecting the natural resources . They 

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can provide training in a realistic 

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environment while protecting threatened 

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and endangered species as well as all 

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other animals around them . 

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So Vandenberg is unique because we have 

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a lot of acreage as like buffering , 

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but it's also a really great habitat 

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for other species and animals and they 

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are federally required to protect them . 

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So it's actually really beneficial for 

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the animal and the species . We're 

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gonna put a turtle in there and I'm 

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gonna go in there with that turtle to 

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photograph it . You're on your own 

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right out of central casting . 

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This is , this is the sea cliff 

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buckwheat and this is the host plant of 

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the buckwheat blue butterfly that you 

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guys came here to see . I actually 

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found this one on base in 2005 . 

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You discovered a new species right here 

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on base . Yeah , that's pretty cool . 

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There's lots of new species in areas 

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like this . If you look small , 

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it's no accident that these lands look 

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as good as they do . Act as well as 

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they do save species like they do in a 

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world grown weary and worn down . These 

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places offer hope , hope for the 

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survival of species , hope for habitats . 

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Inspiration for all of us , saving 

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nature going forward must be 

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intentional . This place proves it . It 

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says it's always been thanks to time 

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diligence and perseverance . They're 

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saving species every day here 

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that gives me hope .