Vandenberg Space Force Base in Lompoc, California, is home to the US Space Force, a division of the US Air Force that develops and protects nationally strategic space infrastructure, including launching civilian and military satellites. The base is a major SpaceX launch site – but it also contains unique and rare biodiversity across the 99,000-acre site, including 17 threatened and endangered species, such as the western snowy plover, the California red-legged frog and the vernal pool fairy shrimp.
Rhys Evans is the Space Force natural resources lead and manages and protects the flora and fauna at Vandenberg. “People are often surprised that there are wildlife biologists like me who work on base,” he says. “We protect the animals here because we’re protecting the land from a potential problem with a rocket launch.”
Evans works with local universities to research and protect wildlife, including on a project with Brigham Young University, Utah, and California State University, Bakersfield, to understand the impact rocket launch noise has on animals. And by using satellite tags, a team from California Polytechnic State University is monitoring migration patterns of elephant seals who colonise the coast near the launch site.
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