The Florida Everglades are home to alligators, dozens of bird species, beautiful flowers and exotic plants.
佛罗里达沼泽地是美洲鳄鱼,几十种鸟类,美丽的野花和多种外来植物的家园。
It's easy to see what attracts people to these places.
很容易看到是什么将人们吸引到这里。
But Florida's population growth, coupled with farms that require a never-ending supply of pesticides and fertilizers,
但是佛罗里达人口增长,农田需要永不休止的施用杀虫剂和肥料,
has put an enormous strain on the Everglades ecosystem.
给沼泽地的生态环境造成了巨大的压力。
So a restoration plan is underway to stabilize the Everglades and preserve the animals that live there.
所以,政府提出了修复计划,用来稳定沼泽地,保护居住在这里的动物。
But the plan has proved to be controversial.
但是这个计划引发了一些争议。
Craig Quirolo runs a nongovernmental organization called Reef Relief in Key West, Florida.
Craig Quirolo在佛罗里达的基韦斯特经营一个名叫Reef Relief的非政府组织。
And that's what really scares me about the Everglades Restoration Plan is that we will be continually inundated,
这个计划让我感到害怕的地方是,无论我们是否干旱,
drought or no drought, with a lot of water. And I think if this water were clean, it wouldn't be so much of a problem.
都要持续的被许多水灌溉。我认为,如果这些水是清洁的,也不会有那么大的问题。
But we have a lot of nutrients in that water, a lot of pesticides.
但是,水中含有太多的养分,许多杀虫剂。
And I think there's a lot of stuff that we don't even know within that water.
而且我认为水里肯定还有很多我们不知道的成分。
And that's sort of what scares a lot of people who are down there.
这也是居住在那里的人担心的问题。
This is a sugarcane country. Pesticides and fertilizers from farms in Central Florida flow right through the Everglades and on to the Reef.
这是一个生产甘蔗的国家。佛罗里达中部农田流出的杀虫剂和化肥都流到沼泽地和大堡礁。
And according to some critics, they are the principal reason the Everglades Restoration Plan won't work.
根据一些评判者所称,这是沼泽地恢复计划不能奏效的主要原因。
Juanita Green is the spokesperson for Friends of the Everglades.
Juanita Green是大沼泽地之友的发言人。
"This is the biggest problem in the Everglades: the Everglades Agricultural Area. It's the major source of water pollution.
“沼泽地最大的问题是沼泽地农业区域。这是水污染的主要来源。
It's the, it's the big... a big dam between Lake Okeechobee and the rest of the natural Everglades."
在Okeechobee湖和沼泽地的其他自然区域之间有一个巨大的水坝。”
The Everglades Agricultural Area, or EAA, covers some 700,000 acres, 90% of it planted in sugarcane.
沼泽地农业区域,简称EAA,占地700,000英亩,其中90%用来种植甘蔗。
Lake Okeechobee's waters irrigate farm fields here, then flow south through the Everglades and into the Keys.
Okeechobee湖的水用来灌溉农田,然后向南流经沼泽地到达基韦斯特。
Stuart Stein is a fourth-generation Florida farmer. And he vehemently rejects the idea that his farming methods damage the Everglades and the Reef.
Stuart Stein是第四代佛罗里达农民。他强烈反对他的耕作方法毁坏沼泽地和大堡礁的说法。
"We will do everything that we can to help, restore and preserve the Everglades, you know.
“我们会尽一切努力来帮助修复和保护沼泽地,你知道。
I enjoy going to the Everglades and I hope my kids have it. They're gonna enjoy it too, along with agriculture."
我喜欢去沼泽地,我希望我的孩子们也能去。他们也会喜欢的,也能在这里耕作。”
Bill Causey of the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary helped draft the plan to restore the Everglades.
佛罗里达基韦斯特海军圣所的Bill Causey起草了沼泽地的修复计划。
He agrees that the Reef is in trouble, but says no one factor can explain its decline.
他同意,大堡礁现在面临着巨大的问题,但是说没有任何因素可以解释为什么情况越来越糟。
"It won't do any good if we spend 7 or 8 hundred million dollars here in Florida Keys to improve our water quality,
“如果我们在佛罗里达花费7到8亿美元来改善水质,不会有任何好处。
if in fact the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan has been put on the shelf because the waters coming down are still going to be polluted,
如果沼泽地修复计划被束之高阁,自上留下的水仍然会被污染,
and then they will enter our cleaner Florida Keys waters and then make the way to the Reef."
然后汇入清洁的佛罗里达基韦斯特水,然后取道大堡礁。”
Some environmental groups believe that the government could save the Everglades and the Coral Reef by buying the farms in Belle Glade,
一些环境研究小组认为,政府可以买下Belle Glade的农场,
shutting them down and donating the land to the park. But federal officials say that's not going to happen.
将农场关闭,然后将土地捐赠给公园,这样就可以拯救沼泽地。但是联邦官员说这是不可能的。
What we can't do is go back within time. We have to get the water right back into the system through the Comprehensive Restoration Plan.
我们不能让时间倒流。我们必须通过修复计划让水重新回到生态系统。
For the millions of people each year who flock to the Keys to enjoy the Reef and the millions of fish that call the Reef home,
为了每年来大堡礁旅游的数百万人,为了以大堡礁为家的数百万鱼类,
for the farmers who've grown sugarcanes in central Florida for generations, and for the people who move to the state each day.
为了世世代代在佛罗里达中部种植甘蔗的农民,为了每天迁移到这里的人们。
That's exactly what this critical balancing act is all about: getting the water right.
这正是该修复计划的的关键:让水恢复正常。