國家地理:退田護河

Out of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northwest Georgia, the cold waters of the Conasauga River descend toward Tennessee.
Flowing back and forth across the state line, the River's abundant wildlife and unspoiled beauty is a remnant of the past--a fading memory that Carton Petty wants to restore.
"I found out it phased out. Take care of the land and it’ll take care of you."
It break, (if) you didn't.
Petty purchased this land several years ago to grow corn and raise dairy cattle. Today, his farm covers more than 7,000 acres, 170 of them along the Conasauga. To preserve the beauty of the river and his property, Petty has built buffer zones--dedicated strips of land to stop chemicals he spreads on his crops from running into the river, and to prevent bank erosion.
"Yep, this, this is just the new buffer we put in and it just, They were sold in November. And it’ll take about a year for you to get established good. "
Buffers are an idea from the Conservation Reserve Program--a United States Department of Agriculture backed initiative that brings landowners, local alliances, and other government agencies together. Nevertheless, keeping an old river like this one healthy in a modern world is difficult.
Beneath the surface of these waters, a pollutant is killing one of its oldest residents --a rare kind of mussel(貽貝). And no one knows exactly where it is coming from.
"This animal's, probably, 20 to 30 years old... "
Paul Johnson with the Tennessee Aquarium has the task of figuring out how to preserve the mussels and help them reproduce.
"This animal’s called... Its scientific name is Cora-bean Hellene. Its common name is the Georgia Pigtail. It was believed to be extinct, then we found this species alive in the Conasauga River, and as far as we know, Conasauga is the sole river that contains this species"
It is a race against time. As long as they cannot figure out what is killing the mussels, that something poses a threat to the whole river.
While the work goes on, the Petties will keep doing their part.
"It's lucky we got something special here with the Conasauga. So, I think we all well understand and start to realize that. And we're trying to do the appropriate steps to keep it a clean and beautiful view."
在佐治亞州西北部的藍(lán)脊山外，Conasauga河冰冷的水靜靜地流向田納西州。
這條河沿著田納西州邊境蜿蜒曲折，豐富的野生物種和未被損壞的美景已經(jīng)成為過去——Carton Petty希望重建的褪色的記憶。
“我發(fā)現(xiàn)這里的美景逐漸消失了。你關(guān)照土地，它也會關(guān)照你。”
如果你不好好對它，終有一天它會崩潰。
Carton Petty幾年前購買了這片土地，主要用于種植玉米和養(yǎng)殖奶牛。今天，他的農(nóng)場占地7，000多英畝，其中170多畝是在Conasauga河岸。為了保住河流的美景和他的財產(chǎn)，Petty建立的緩沖區(qū)——一些防止他施用在作物上的化學(xué)物質(zhì)流入河流，防止河岸侵蝕的專用土地帶。
“這是我們投入的新的緩沖帶，11月份剛剛買過來的，大約要用一年的時間才能建好。”
緩沖區(qū)是來自美國自然保護計劃(Conservation Reserve Program，簡稱CRP)——美國農(nóng)業(yè)部為了將土地所有者，當(dāng)?shù)芈?lián)盟和其他政府機構(gòu)聯(lián)合起來而設(shè)立的項目。但是，在現(xiàn)代化的世界里，要想保持這樣的河流的健康是非常困難的。
在河面一下，污染物正在殺戮河中最古老的居民——一種稀有貽貝。沒人確切的知道它來自哪里。
“這種動物，年齡可能在20到30歲之間……”
田納西水族館的Paul Johnson負(fù)責(zé)找出保護這些貽貝和使它們再生的方法。
“這種動物叫做……它的學(xué)名是Cora-bean Hellene，通俗名稱是Georgia Pigtail。大家都確信它已經(jīng)滅絕了，但是我們在Conasauga河又發(fā)現(xiàn)了這個物種。據(jù)我們了解，Conasauga河是唯一有這種物種生存的河流。”
這是一場與時間的比賽。如果他們找不出是什么原因?qū)е沦O貝死亡，會對整條河流造成威脅。
在工作進行的過程中，Petty一家還將繼續(xù)做好他們自己的工作。
“能夠和Conasauga河有這種特殊的關(guān)系我們感到很幸運。所以，我覺得我們會理解，并且開始意識到這一點。我們正在努力采取適當(dāng)?shù)拇胧?，以保證Conasauga河清潔美麗的風(fēng)景。”