trying to grok

HA

Tanks: good for the environment!

The environmental office works with units that use the training area to identify sections that are off-limits to training to protect endangered or threatened species that live in those areas. In other parts of the training area, the training actually helps wildlife flourish, Rieck said.

“Threatened and endangered species like when the landscape changes,” he said. “With tanks moving through, the land changes and animals are attracted to that.”

An information paper from the environmental office said the tanks compact the soil, creating puddles that the endangered yellow-bellied toad uses to lay eggs.

Ulrich Maushakey, the forest director for the Federal Forestry Office in Grafenwöhr, said if the training were to stop and the area no longer monitored, much of the existing wildlife would likely die off.

“If you keep the land open, all the trees come back, the area would be [overgrown] with weeds and the most parasitic species would take over,” Maushakey said. “With the land kept free of these threats, there is more of a chance for threatened and endangered species to come back.”

Hey, husband, did you see that? Two of my favorite things are symbiotic: tanks and toads!