Comment by __MatrixMan__

A recent biology teacher of mine claims that military bases often contain ecosystems that are:

- intact enough to have quick bounce back behavior upon species reintroduction and

- small enough for you to have a good idea about which species are present

- come with a built-in control variable: the civilian space on the other side of the border represents what would have happened if we had let economics have its way with the land

Maybe you don't need quite that level of protection to see such effects, but generally you do need some. Throwing some wolves at a once-forest that's now half way to being a desert will not always save that forest.