為什么湯加斯國家森林如此重要?

為什么湯加斯國家森林如此重要?

All forests are important, but some play larger roles than others. And for a few reasons, the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska — known as the "crown jewel" of U.S. national forests .

所有的森林都很重要，但有些森林的作用更大。由于一些原因，阿拉斯加?xùn)|南部的湯加斯國家森林——被稱為美國國家森林的“皇冠上的寶石”。

Photo: JMcQ/Shutterstock

Here's a closer look at the Tongass, why it's so important and why you might be hearing more about it in the near future:

讓我們仔細(xì)看看湯加斯，為什么它如此重要，為什么你會在不久的將來聽到更多關(guān)于它的信息:

It's no ordinary forest.

這不是普通的森林。

The Mendenhall Glacier is a river of ice that stretches for 13 miles (21 km) through the Tongass National Forest. (Photo: Dee Browning/Shutterstock)

Size matters for any forest, since a big, unbroken woodland can generally support more wildlife and provide more ecosystem services to people, both near and far. But while the sheer scale of the Tongass is impressive, that's only part of its appeal.

大小對于任何森林來說都很重要，因?yàn)橐粋€大的、完整的林地通常可以支持更多的野生動物，并為人類提供更多的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)服務(wù)，無論遠(yuǎn)近。雖然湯加斯的規(guī)模令人印象深刻，但這只是它吸引力的一部分。

The Tongass includes the largest temperate rainforest left in North America, and holds nearly a third of all the old-growth temperate rainforest left on Earth. Together with British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest, just across the Canadian border to the south, it forms the largest intact temperate rainforest on Earth, according to Audubon Alaska.

湯加斯包括北美現(xiàn)存最大的溫帶雨林，擁有地球上現(xiàn)存的近三分之一的原始溫帶雨林。根據(jù)阿拉斯加奧杜邦的說法，它和加拿大南部邊境的不列顛哥倫比亞省的大熊雨林一起，形成了地球上最大的完整的溫帶雨林。

Along with its vast woods, the Tongass features up to 17,000 miles (27,000 km) of pristine creeks, rivers and lakes, including important salmon-spawning streams. It also has wetlands, alpine tundra, mountains, fjords and 128 glaciers, and there are 19 designated wilderness areas located within its borders, more than any other national forest.

除了廣袤的森林，湯加斯還有長達(dá)1.7萬英里(2.7萬公里)的原始小溪、河流和湖泊，其中包括鮭魚產(chǎn)卵的重要溪流。它還有濕地、高山苔原、山脈、峽灣和128個冰川，其境內(nèi)有19個指定的荒野地區(qū)，比任何其他國家森林都多。

It's teeming with life.

那里充滿了生命。

A black bear and bald eagle share a tree at Anan Creek Wildlife Observatory in the Tongass National Forest. (Photo: U.S. Forest Service Alaska Region [CC BY 2.0]/Flickr)

This type of ecosystem is not only rare, but also highly valuable to wildlife. "Old-growth temperate rainforests hold more biomass (living stuff) per acre than any other type of ecosystem on the planet, including tropical jungles," explains the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. The Tongass hosts deep forests of old-growth cedar, spruce and hemlock trees, some of which are more than 1,000 years old, as well as blueberries, skunk cabbages, ferns, mosses and many other plants in its understory.

這種類型的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)不僅罕見，而且對野生動物也很有價值。東南阿拉斯加保護(hù)委員會解釋說:“原始的溫帶雨林每英畝擁有的生物量(生物)比地球上任何其他類型的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，包括熱帶叢林都要多。”湯加斯的森林深處生長著古老的雪松、云杉和鐵杉，其中一些已有1000多年的樹齡，還有藍(lán)莓、臭白菜、蕨類植物、苔蘚和其他許多植物。

It's home to a wide range of native animals, too, including all five species of Pacific salmon, steelhead trout, brown bears, black bears, gray wolves, Sitka black-tailed deer, mountain goats, flying squirrels, river otters, humpback whales, orcas, bald eagles, northern goshawks and marbled murrelets, to name a few.

這里也是多種本土動物的家園，包括太平洋大馬哈魚、虹鱒、棕熊、黑熊、灰狼、西特卡黑尾鹿、山羊、飛鼠、河獺、座頭鯨、逆戟鯨、禿鷹、北蒼鷹和大理石小海豚等五種動物。

People live there, too.

人們也住在那里。

The city of Ketchikan, located within the Tongass National Forest, depends heavily on tourism and commercial fishing. (Photo: MollieGPhoto/Shutterstock)

The Tongass, and Southeast Alaska overall, has been continuously inhabited by Alaska Native people for thousands of years, including the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian. The forest itself is named after the Tongass group of Tlingit people, who lived in the southernmost areas of Southeast Alaska, near what's now the city of Ketchikan.

湯加斯，以及整個阿拉斯加?xùn)|南部，幾千年來一直是阿拉斯加原住民的居住地，包括特林吉特人、海達(dá)人和Tsimshian人。這片森林以特林蓋特人的湯加斯族命名，他們居住在阿拉斯加?xùn)|南部的最南端，靠近現(xiàn)在的凱契坎市。

About 70,000 people live in the Tongass today, according to the Alaska Wilderness League. Nearly half of those are in the state capital of Juneau, which is located within the Tongass, but this population is spread among 32 different communities.

根據(jù)阿拉斯加荒野聯(lián)盟的數(shù)據(jù)，如今約有7萬人住在湯加斯。其中近一半在位于湯加斯的州首府朱諾，但這些人口分布在32個不同的社區(qū)。