But generally you're not taking into account that the location of your town isn't random, it's probably the most desirable area for habitation in those hundreds of thousands of acres.

That's why people settled there in the first place, e.g. at the mouth of a river, an oasis or wetland in the middle of a desert etc, pick your local equivalent.

So it's entirely possible in the general case that some mundane area just outside of town is the only remaining habitat for an endangered species.

It'll be there because the species's original habit is where the town is now located, and that there's a limit to how far away they could get before being entirely unviable.

Likewise, the location of the off-road park won't be random either. Those tend to be located in areas with an abundance of certain landscape features.

Just as humans might pick those for recretation, some animals might pick them because they provide an ideal habitat.

And I think lizards and butterflies care less about noise or traffic than you think.