为什么汤加斯国家森林如此重要?

为什么汤加斯国家森林如此重要?

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，阿拉斯加东南部的汤加斯国家森林——被称为美国国家森林的“皇冠上的宝石”。

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:

让我们仔细看看汤加斯，为什么它如此重要，为什么你会在不久的将来听到更多关于它的信息:

It's no ordinary forest.

这不是普通的森林。

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.

大小对于任何森林来说都很重要，因为一个大的、完整的林地通常可以支持更多的野生动物，并为人类提供更多的生态系统服务，无论远近。虽然汤加斯的规模令人印象深刻，但这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.

汤加斯包括北美现存最大的温带雨林，拥有地球上现存的近三分之一的原始温带雨林。根据阿拉斯加奥杜邦的说法，它和加拿大南部边境的不列颠哥伦比亚省的大熊雨林一起，形成了地球上最大的完整的温带雨林。

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.

除了广袤的森林，汤加斯还有长达1.7万英里(2.7万公里)的原始小溪、河流和湖泊，其中包括鲑鱼产卵的重要溪流。它还有湿地、高山苔原、山脉、峡湾和128个冰川，其境内有19个指定的荒野地区，比任何其他国家森林都多。

It's teeming with life.

那里充满了生命。

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.

这种类型的生态系统不仅罕见，而且对野生动物也很有价值。东南阿拉斯加保护委员会解释说:“原始的温带雨林每英亩拥有的生物量(生物)比地球上任何其他类型的生态系统，包括热带丛林都要多。”汤加斯的森林深处生长着古老的雪松、云杉和铁杉，其中一些已有1000多年的树龄，还有蓝莓、臭白菜、蕨类植物、苔藓和其他许多植物。

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.

这里也是多种本土动物的家园，包括太平洋大马哈鱼、虹鳟、棕熊、黑熊、灰狼、西特卡黑尾鹿、山羊、飞鼠、河獭、座头鲸、逆戟鲸、秃鹰、北苍鹰和大理石小海豚等五种动物。

People live there, too.

人们也住在那里。

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.

汤加斯，以及整个阿拉斯加东南部，几千年来一直是阿拉斯加原住民的居住地，包括特林吉特人、海达人和Tsimshian人。这片森林以特林盖特人的汤加斯族命名，他们居住在阿拉斯加东南部的最南端，靠近现在的凯契坎市。

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.

根据阿拉斯加荒野联盟的数据，如今约有7万人住在汤加斯。其中近一半在位于汤加斯的州首府朱诺，但这些人口分布在32个不同的社区。