The way I feel it when I'm out there is that I'm returning home.
我在那里有种回家的感觉。
It feels like the wind is embracing you.
这种感觉如同微风与你相拥。
The United States Government came to a truce with us and because they figured that nobody could survive in this vast wilderness, they probably thought we were all going to die.
美国政府与我们停战，因为他们发现没人能在这无尽的荒野幸存，他们也许认为我们全都会在此丧生。
But our people, we were meant to be a part of nature.
但是我们的族人命中注定是大自然的一部分。
The other foreigners coming into this land didn't understand the environment and didn't know her secrets, but our people did.
这个小岛其他的外来人并不了解这里的环境，也不知道她的秘密，但是我们的族人知道。
That's why we're here today.
这也是我们今天来里的原因。
Some may see a swamp.
有人可能看见一片沼泽。
Others, a still body of water.
有人则看见一片平静的水域。
But the Everglades is actually a river, the widest and slowest in the country.
但大沼泽地其实是一条河，是这个国家最宽且流速最慢的河。
A continuous stream of fresh water, a hundred kilometers wide.
一条连绵不断的淡水河，宽达一百千米。
It meanders through south Florida at four kilometers per day.
它以每天四公里的速度，蜿蜒流过佛罗里达州南部。
The Everglades is one of the largest wetlands on the planet.
大沼泽地是地球上最大的湿地之一。
More than a million acres filled with plants and animals uniquely adapted to this watery world.
占地一百多万英亩以上，有着独特的动植物资源，适应着这个水之世界。
For generations, the Miccosukee people have called this home.
几代人以来，米科苏基人都把这里当作家。
Back in the earlier days in the history of Florida, when the US Cavalry, when they were trying to hunt our people down to force relocation, the Everglades provided us a sanctuary.
在佛罗里达早期的历史上，当美国骑兵营试图通过追捕我们，来迫使我们迁徙时，大沼泽地给我们提供了一个避难所。
If it wasn't for the Everglades, we wouldn't be here.
如果不是大沼泽地，我们也不会在这里。
One of the secrets to the Miccosukees' survival has been curious patches of elevated land called tree islands.
米科苏基人幸存的奥秘之一，是这片奇特的高地，人们称之为树岛。
The Miccosukee people, when they came down into the Everglades, they use the tree islands to live on.
米科苏基人进入大沼泽地的时候，他们利用树岛生存了下来。
The pine trees, they used those trees to build shelter on the islands.
他们利用这些松树在这座岛上修建庇护所。
We honor those islands by taking care of them and passing on the history of that island to the future generations.
我们通过保护这些岛屿以示尊重，并将岛屿的历史代代相传。
Thousands of tree islands are sprinkled throughout the Everglades.
成千上万的树岛散布在大沼泽地。
They're some of the only dry places around.
它们是附近唯一干燥的地方。
They range from the size of a swimming pool, up to one kilometer long.
它们小到一个泳池，大到一千米长不等。
And there's a growing understanding that they may be the key to conserving this delicate ecosystem.
人们渐渐意识到，它们可能是保护这个脆弱的生态系统的关键。
The islands support a surprising array of wildlife, coyotes, deer, bobcat, even the Florida Panther.
这些岛上生活着大量的野生生物，郊狼、鹿、山猫，甚至还有佛罗里达美洲豹。
In spite of their importance, little is known about the role these islands play in the ecosystem.
尽管树岛如此重要，但很少有人了解这些小岛在生态系统中扮演的角色。
Scientists from the Miccosukee Tribe are trying to change that.
米科苏基部落的科学家正在试图改变这种现状。
Prior to our project, there's not really been anything that's known about what wildlife use the islands, how they use them, even basic information like diet, it's not really known.
我们的项目启动之前，几乎不知道关于野生生物，如何利用岛上资源来生存，即使是一些基本信息，比如食物，都是未知的。
Using our trail cameras, we're trying to figure out what species of wildlife are also using the island.
我们通过追踪摄像头，试图弄清还有哪些野生生物也在利用这座岛生存。
Some of the most surprising animals are the black bear.
最令人惊奇的动物是黑熊。
I never thought that the bears would be utilizing the Wetland habitat.
我从来没想过熊能够利用湿地作为栖息地。
It's unknown at this time, whether the bears are living out here because it's a preferred habitat or because the bear population has expanded so much and its forcing bears out into other habitat.
目前还不知道这些熊是因为这片栖息地更好，还是因为熊的数量大量扩张而迫使熊群进入其它栖息地。
And we're hoping that's what the research will inform us.
我们希望这项研究能够为我们揭示真相。
We frequently see alligator holes adjacent to the island.
我们经常看见短吻鳄的洞相邻分布在岛上。
A gator hole is a habitat that the alligator uses and is typically a natural depression, and they'll start to excavate it to make it a little bit deeper and kind of better for themselves.
这些洞是短吻鳄的栖息地也是典型的天然洼地，短吻鳄会把洼地挖得更深更适合它们生存。
Tree islands are the source of life and stability for pretty much all species out here.
树岛是生命之源，也是此处众多生物稳定生存之源。
They kind of all depend on these tree islands to maintain the balance of the ecosystem.
它们都依赖这些树岛来维持生态系统平衡。
Sometimes they have completely different communities and vegetation on them, and that's going to affect what wildlife use those islands, because the plants are kind of the base of everything.
有时，它们的植被和群落完全不同，这会影响到哪些野生动物会利用这些树岛，因为植物是一切的基础。
It's their shelter, it's their food.
这是它们的庇护所，也是它们的食物。
Certain vegetation will only grow where it has the right niche.
某些植物只会生长在适合它生长的地方。
Diversity on the tree islands is really important because the greater diversity, the greater amount of food you have for animals.
在树岛上 生物多样性是非常重要的，因为物种越丰富，供给动物们的食物就越多。
Some of the vegetation on these islands like hardwood trees, are particularly sensitive to fluctuations in water levels.
岛上的一些植物，比如硬木树，对水位的波动非常敏感。
Too much water and they drown, too little and they dry out.
水太多它们会淹死，水太少它们又会旱死。
High water is not necessarily a bad thing.
水位高不一定是件坏事。
It's the duration of the flooding of tree islands that is more of a problem.
树岛的泛洪期才更是一个问题。
People began altering the flow of the water in the Everglades back in the early 19 hundreds, when the intent was to try to drain the land for agriculture and for development.
早在二十世纪初，人们就开始改变大沼泽地的水流方向，为的是抽干土壤的水分，用于农业种植和发展。
They did this by creating a bunch of canals and levies that were kind of diverting the natural flow of water out towards the ocean.
他们通过建造一系列运河和堤坝，将自然界的水流引入海洋来实现这一点。
And some areas are too dry, some areas too flooded.
旱的旱死，涝的涝死。
And so you don't get the historic flow that used to occur.
所以你没法知道历史上这里的河道分布。
Tree islands now get flooded and they remain flooded for a longer duration, anything from two to six months.
树岛现在正被洪水淹没，并且洪水持续时间更长，大概两到六个月。
There are times that we can't use those islands for ceremony.
有时，我们不能在岛上举行仪式。
So, that impacts the culture of the Miccosukee.
所以，这也影响了米克苏基人的文化。
There are times that the deers don't have a place to seek refuge because the islands can be up to three feet underwater.
有时鹿群找不到地方避难，因为这些岛屿在水下深大三英尺。
The small mammals and the larger mammals just can't survive for that length of time on inundated islands.
大型或小型哺乳类都不能在淹没的岛上生存那么长的时间。
Small mammals are such an important part of the ecosystem for transporting seeds into different areas.
小型哺乳类是生态系统中重要的一环，它们能把种子送往不同的地方。
We are reintroducing some of the small animals back onto tree islands.
我们重新将一些小型动物引入树岛。
Certain species of plants on the tree islands cannot tolerate flooding for much more than 10 days a year.
树岛上的一些植物不能承受一年中超过十天的洪水。
The tree islands are essentially drowning.
树岛基本上被淹没了。
And the islands itself start dying.
这些岛屿自己也开始消亡。
The tree roots are start dying.
树根开始死亡。
And when the trees start dying on the island, the roots of those trees is what holds the islands together.
这些树根将岛屿连在一起，当岛上的树开始枯死的时候。
So, the islands will start shrinking.
这些岛也开始缩小。
Without tree roots to hold onto the soil, the islands erode and slowly disappear.
没有树根固土，岛屿被侵蚀并慢慢消失。
Nearly 70% of the tree islands have disappeared since the 1940s.
从19世纪40年代以来，已经有近70％的树岛消失。
That's largely due to flooding because of how water flow has been managed.
这在很大程度上是由于水流管理不善导引发的洪水导致的。
We have tribal members today that remember living on tree islands and have seen the changes to this area.
我们至今有一些部落成员依然怀念树岛的生活，并且目睹了这片区域的变化。
Even in my short lifetime, I've seen the changes.
即使在我短暂的一生中，我也看到了这些变化。
Our people were taught that in our time of need, the Everglades was here for us.
我们族人代代相传 在我们需要的时候，大沼泽地依旧在此守候。
So now that it's her time of need, we have to stand up and protect her because someone has to speak for the voiceless.
现在，大沼泽地也需要我们，我们必须要挺身而出保护她，因为必须有人为无声者发声。
the Miccosukee People, we advocate for reconnecting the landscape.
作为米克苏基人，我们主张重新将残破的景观修复。
We need to heal the environment because the way that it's being approached for Everglades restoration is still man trying to control nature.
我们需要修复环境因为大沼泽地修复的方式，仍然是靠人们努力控制自然。
I say, you need to get out of nature's way.
我认为要跳出自然之道。
And when it rains, let the water go where water wants to go, where water historically went.
下雨的时候，就应该让水随心所欲地流淌，流到它曾经流向的地方。
The Everglades is precious.
大沼泽地尤为珍贵。
It's the only one in existence on the world.
世界上独一无二的。
If it disappears, we're not going to have another one.
如果消失，我们就再也不会有第二个了。
This place is yours.
这个地方是你们的。
It doesn't just belong to Florida.
它不仅仅属于佛罗里达。
The Everglades is a part of the world.
大沼泽地是世界的一部分。
So, everyone has that right to have it protected so that their future generations can experience the Everglades.
因此，每个人都有保护它的权利，只有这样他们的后代才能感受到大沼泽地的美好。
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