美景當前卻隻見人潮？美國人也有這個煩惱

美景當前卻隻見人潮？美國人也有這個煩惱

　　

 

　　The rocky shorelines, shifting deserts and winding canyons of the country’s 59 national parks have been hallmarks of American vacations for generations.

　　美國59個國家公園的岩石海岸、流動沙漠和蜿蜒峽穀，一直是幾代人心目中的美式假期的勝地。

　　But the number of park visitors has reached an unprecedented level, leaving many tourists frustrated and many environmentalists concerned about the toll of overcrowding.

　　但造訪國家公園的遊客已經多到前所未有的程度，這讓很多人敗興而歸，也讓很多環保主義者憂心於人流過大的後果。

　　In 2016, the National Park Service tracked a record 331 million visits, and after a busy summer, the system is likely to surpass that number this year. In August alone, some 40 million people came through park service gates.

　　據國家公園管理局(National Park Service)統計，2016年，國家公園係統創紀錄地接待遊客3.31億人次。今年的數字可能還會更高。光是8月份，客流量就達4000萬人次。

　　Shuttle buses at Zion National Park, in southwest Utah, filled like sweaty subway cars. Selfie-takers clogged the slender path through the Narrows slot canyon, one of the park’s best-known attractions. And at the top of Angels Landing, an iconic trail of switchbacks on the east side of the park, some portable toilets were marked off with a sign: “Due to extreme use, these toilets have reached capacity.”

　　在猶他州西南部的錫安國家公園(Zion National Park)，班車內頗為擁擠，人們身上汗津津的，猶如置身地鐵車廂。自拍者堵塞了穿越隘口的小徑——這一狹縫型峽穀是該公園最知名的景點之一。在公園東側標誌性的“之”字形天使降臨步道頂端，一些流動廁所上的標牌上寫著：“由於使用量過大，這些廁所的承載力已達極限。”

　　Zion is among the most visited parks in the system and is particularly prone to crowding because many of its most popular sites sit in a narrow six-mile canyon. In 2016, about 4.3 million people visited, up 60 percent from a decade ago.

　　錫安是美國客流量最大的國家公園之一，而且尤其容易出現擁擠，因為它的很多最受歡迎的景點都坐落在一道窄窄的6英裏長峽穀內。2016年，該公園的遊客數量約為430萬人次，比十年前高出60%。

　　So this year, park managers announced they were considering a first for any national park: requiring reservations for entry. A final decision is expected in 2018.

　　因此，錫安的管理者們今年宣布，他們正考慮采取一項所有國家公園都從未采取過的舉措：遊客需提前預約方能入園。最終的決定預計將在2018年做出。

　　“We don’t have a choice,” said Jack Burns, who has worked in Zion since 1982. “We have to do something. If this going to remain a place of special importance for generations, we have to do something now.”

　　“我們別無選擇，”從1982年在錫安工作至今的傑克·伯恩斯(Jack Burns)說。“我們必須有所行動。這個地方在幾代人心目中有著特殊的意義，要想繼續保存下去，我們必須立刻有所行動。”

　　The National Park Service was created in 1916 to protect the country’s growing system of parks and monuments. Its mandate is to conserve scenery and wildlife while also protecting visitor enjoyment for generations to come. For years, the lack of a reservation system for park entry aligned with the service’s ethos of democracy and discovery: Anyone could come, pretty much anytime. (The service has long required permits for hiking in more remote areas.)

　　國家公園管理局成立於1916年，旨在保衛美國日益擴大的國家公園和紀念區係統，其使命是在保護風景和野生動植物的同時，確保一代代到訪的遊客都能體驗到樂趣。多年來，由於缺少遊客預約入園係統，再加上國家公園管理局有著提倡民主和探索精神之風，任何人幾乎在任何時候都可以造訪國家公園。（管理局一直都規定，遊客需獲得許可才能在更偏遠的地方徒步。）

　　But lately, both visitors and nature are suffering. Mr. Burns, who is on a team that is considering a reservation system, said some people showed up for a vacation they had planned for months, spent a day in the gridlock and turned around. Rangers, stressed by the frustrated masses, have started a monthly meeting to discuss “visitor use” that some say has turned into a group-therapy session.

　　但近來，遊客和大自然都在遭受折磨。伯恩斯所在的團隊正考慮推出預約係統，他說有些來度假的人已經為假期做了好幾個月的計劃，結果卻被困在人山人海之中，隻待了一天就打道回府。麵對令人沮喪的混亂局麵，公園管理員開始每月開一次例會，討論“遊客使用度”問題——按照一些人的說法，這一例會已經變成了群體治療會。

　　And Zion’s delicate desert ecosystem has been battered by tourists, some of whom wash diapers in the Virgin River, scratch their names into boulders and fly drone cameras through once quiet skies. The park has about 25 miles of developed trails. But over time, rangers have mapped about 600 miles of visitor-made paths, which damage vegetation and soil and take a toll on wildlife.

　　此外，遊客重創了錫安國家公園脆弱的荒漠生態係統，有的人在維琴河裏洗尿布，有的人把自己的名字刻在大石頭上，還有的人讓無人機攝像頭穿梭於一度靜寂的天空。該公園的已開發步道總長度約為25英裏（40公裏）。但隨著時間的推移，公園管理員在地圖上標出了總長度約為600英裏（960公裏）的遊客自行開辟的道路，它們破壞了植被和土壤，對野生動物也造成了傷害。

　　The story is similar at parks from Yosemite in California to Acadia in Maine. And the crowding problem comes as the system faces the dual threat of a funding shortage and climate change.

　　從加利福尼亞州的優勝美地(Yosemite)，到緬因州的阿卡迪亞(Acadia)，很多國家公園都在上演類似的故事。而且客流量過大的問題出現之際，國家公園係統正麵臨資金不足和氣候變化的雙重威脅。

　　The park system has a maintenance backlog of more than $11 billion and President Trump has proposed a 13 percent cut to the service.

　　該係統的維護經費缺口超過110億美元，而特朗普總統已提議削減國家公園管理局13%的經費。

　　At the same time, park officials have identified the heat and floods of climate change as one of the system’s greatest perils. In Zion, as maximum temperatures in the summer have risen, the heat-intolerant American pika, a tiny mammal related to rabbits, has disappeared. Rangers call it a sign of what is likely to come: smaller streams, more frequent droughts and other shifts in the ecosystem.

　　與此同時，國家公園的管理者已經確認，氣候變化帶來的高溫和洪水是該係統麵臨的最大風險之一。在錫安，隨著夏季最高溫度的上升，不耐熱的美國鼠兔——一種小小的兔形目哺乳動物——已經消失了。公園管理員說這表明了接下來可能發生什麽：溪流變細，幹旱到來得更頻繁，生態係統出現其他變化。

　　This summer, administrators at Zion submitted three proposed visitor plans to the public.

　　這個夏天，錫安的管理者向公眾提交了三個擬議中的遊客管理方案。

　　One option would require people to make an online reservation before arrival, and would set a yet-to-be-specified limit on visitors. The second option would require reservations only for certain areas. The third option would be to make no changes.

　　一個選項是要求遊客在造訪之前進行在線預約，並針對遊客設定有待具體化的限製；第二個選項是隻要求造訪特定區域的遊客進行預約；第三個選項是不做任何改變。

　　About 1,600 people sent in comments, and the park plans to send out a revised round of proposals for public review. Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh will make the final decision.

　　約1600人發表了自己的意見，錫安國家公園打算對上述方案進行修訂，並交由公眾審核。最後的決定將由公園負責人傑夫·布拉迪博(Jeff Bradybaugh)做出。

　　Some have expressed opposition to the reservation idea, including a group that founded the website stopzionreservations.org.

　　一些人表態反對預約，其中一個組織還建立了stopzionreservations.org（阻止錫安預約）的網站。

　　Mr. Burns said he favored a reservation policy. He recalled the days when he would jump in a car and pull up to parks across the West with no plans.

　　伯恩斯說，他支持預約政策。他還記得自己臨時起意跳上汽車，隨心所欲地在西部的一個個國家公園停留的日子。

　　When he first came to the park in the 1980s, he was a young employee at the lodge, and he wrote a letter home. “I’m living in no-man’s-land,” he told his parents. He could hike for hours, even days, without seeing a soul, and he remembered a constant sensitivity to the changing light on the canyons, the brilliant green of the trees, the emerald water of the Virgin River.

　　在1980年代首次來到錫安的時候，他成了住宿區的一名年輕雇員，給家裏寫過一封信。“我住在無人區，”他告訴父母。他可以一口氣徒步幾小時，甚至幾天，連個人影都看不到；他記得自己總是能感受到峽穀中光線的變化、樹木盎然的綠意、維琴河翡翠般的河水。

　　Today, he said, when he finds solitude, it is usually accompanied by the distant rumble of the shuttle bus.

　　現在，他說，當他想要偷得片刻清淨的時候，總是躲不開遠處班車的轟鳴聲。

　　“There is only one Zion National Park,” he said to those struggling to see a need for limiting access. “And it’s sacred. Its beauty is sacred.”

　　“錫安國家公園隻有一個，”他對那些認為沒必要限製客流量的人說。“它是神聖的。它的美是神聖的。”

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