With weather cooperating, we made our way to Camp Blaz where we had the rare opportunity to visit one of their four plant nurseries. Natural resource specialist Sheeka Tareyama explained that as part of the military buildup, for every acre of forest that was disturbed, results in an acre of habitat enhancement

"In this nursery itself, we have 345 cycads that have either been grown from seeds, cuttings, either stems or pots," she explained. "These cycads in here about a year to a year-and-a-half old."

"The final goal of these cycads is their home - they are going to be in our forest enhancement area, where again, everything has been fenced in. All the deer and pigs have been removed. The overarching goal of the forest enhancement is to restore and enhance that forest into a native forest that can take care and house these native plants, endangered plants and some of the rare things out there."

The cycads along with all the other plants are taken care of on a daily basis by experts ensuring there are no pests and there are no nutrient deficiencies or diseases. Tareyama added, "Each cycad has a specific bar code and tag ID number, so we can do several things - we can identify where that cycad came from - if that's a seedling - where specifically GPS-wise where did that seed come from, and whose its parents was or who its mom was. What is also allows us to do is that if we just scan it, we will be able to see the entire history of that cycad."

From the nursery, we made our way to one of the forest enhancement areas - the largest site, which is more than 400 acres. And one of the first to get off the ground. Adrienne Loerzel is a program manager for the project, and said, "This is our long-term commitment and we're just in the beginning stages of getting this forest back to a healthier state."

Visible at the site, you could already see some plants thriving after being planted. "The sort of leggy trees are a threatened tree in a lot of places of Northern Guam and these trees were part of the buildup we collected seeds from the parent trees and grew those out from the nursery and we're now at the stage with no pigs and deer here to harm these plants, we're able to put them back into the forest," said Loerzel.

"The second one is Ufam Hanao Tano...that is another tree that is normally found on edges, river valleys also up north that we are putting into the forest to increase our biodiversity and increase the numbers of this tree because its not found commonly in the wild."

When the team is out planting, even though they are conservation areas and the goal is to keep the forest intact, Loerzel says there is an archaeologist on site to ensure proper respect and that no cultural areas are disturbed.

"There were surveys done prior to the work so we know where they might be sites where we're avoiding entirely, but even in areas those recognized sites, we do have monitors to check each hole as its dug to ensure there are no surprises," she said.

On Camp Blaz, efforts are being done to create a place where native plants and some of the island's endangered and enlisted species can grow and continue to thrive.