南卡罗莱纳的一大片土地现在已历经了几代人

南卡罗莱纳的一大片土地现在已历经了几代人

Estill, South Carolina — The descendants of John Winthrop, founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony nearly 400 years ago, recently set aside 14,000 acres along the Savannah River that will forever remain undeveloped. It's the largest private conservation easement in South Carolina history.

约400年前马萨诸塞湾殖民地的创始人约翰·温斯洛普的后裔，最近在萨凡纳河沿岸划出了14000英亩的土地，这些土地将永远得不到开发。这是南卡罗来纳州历史上最大的私人保护地役权。

Groton Plantation fronts 24 miles of the Savannah River in South Carolina (Photo: Dan Chapman/USFWS)

Its significance, though, goes well beyond the creation of a natural bulwark against overdevelopment and forest loss.

然而，它的意义远远超出了建立一个防止过度开发和森林消失的天然屏障。

"Most people who live in Beaufort or Bluffton might never visit this part of South Carolina in their lifetime," said David Bishop, a conservation director with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in South Carolina who helped cobble the deal together. "But clean water here is a service to them. It takes a lot of forethought to invest upstream in Allendale."

“大多数住在波弗特或布拉夫顿的人可能一辈子都不会来南卡罗莱纳的这一地区，”大卫·毕晓普说，他是南卡罗莱纳自然保护协会(TNC)的一名保护主任，曾参与促成了这项协议。“但是干净的水对他们来说是一种服务。要想在上游的阿连德投资，需要有很多先见之明。”

'A gorgeous piece of property'

“一份华丽的财产”

Cypress knees rise from Groton Plantation swamp. (Photo: Dan Chapman/USFWS)

Bishop toured the lower half of Groton Plantation one recent sunny afternoon, through the quail and deer "courses," across the cypress-kneed swamp and along an oak-filled bend in the Savannah River. A bald eagle was spooked from its nest. An alligator splashed from a log into the swamp. A massive turtle slid into the river. The Winthrop family had earlier protected 7,400 of these acres along the Savannah via a conservation easement donated to the Conservancy.

最近一个阳光明媚的下午，毕晓普参观了格罗顿种植园的下半部分，穿过鹌鹑和鹿的“路线”，穿过柏树腿沼泽，沿着萨凡纳河一个满是橡树的河湾。一只秃鹰被吓出了巢。一只短吻鳄从一根圆木上溅落到沼泽地里。一只巨大的乌龟滑进了河里。温斯洛普家族早先通过捐赠给大自然保护协会的保护地役权保护了大草原上的7400英亩土地。

"The family has a long history of conservation," said Frank Range, a family friend and plantation business manager who joined the tour. "It's a gorgeous piece of property and the family has taken good care of it over the years."

“这个家族有很长的保护历史，”家族的朋友、种植园业务经理弗兰克?“这是一处漂亮的房产，多年来家人一直悉心照料。”

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The Martin family cemetery at Groton Plantation. (Photo: Dan Chapman/USFWS)

The hilly uplands mix longleaf, loblolly and hardwoods with fields of sorghum and soybean as food for quail and deer. Two-thirds of Groton's upland is burned annually to foster longleaf and restore the undergrowth favored by quail and woodpeckers. Pepper Hill, the plantation's high point, conjures a pristine savannah with wiregrass and other sedges carpeting the ground between longleaf pines. Range listed a slew of birds, endangered and otherwise, that frequent Groton: painted buntings, bald eagles, anhingas, blue herons, ospreys. A voluntary Safe Harbor agreement between Groton and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service protects the population of endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers, currently estimated at 55 clusters.

多山的高地将长叶、火炬树和阔叶树与高粱和大豆田混合在一起，作为鹌鹑和鹿的食物。格罗顿三分之二的高地每年都要烧掉，以培育长叶植物，并恢复鹌鹑和啄木鸟喜爱的灌木丛。胡椒山是种植园的最高处，它让人联想起一片原始的大草原，在长叶松之间，野草和其他莎草覆盖着地面。Range列出了大量濒临灭绝或其他格罗顿经常出没的鸟类:彩绘彩带、秃鹰、美洲狮、蓝鹭、鱼鹰。格罗顿和美国鱼类及野生动物管理局之间的自愿安全港协议保护了濒危红头啄木鸟的数量，目前估计有55群。

'What the world used to look like'

世界曾经是什么样子

Stuart Atkinson (from left) and Frank Range get a tour of the property from David Bishop of The Nature Conservancy. (Photo: Dan Chapman/USFWS)

A slew of conservation nonprofits, including TNC, the Clean Water Fund, the South Carolina Conservation Bank and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, raised $3.5 million to defray the costs of the conservation easement. Private foundations and corporate donors, including Walmart and International Paper, channeled hundreds of thousands of dollars through the conservation groups.

包括TNC、净水基金会、南卡罗莱纳保护银行和国家鱼类及野生动物基金会在内的一系列保护非营利组织筹集了350万美元，用于支付保护地役权的费用。包括沃尔玛和国际纸业在内的私人基金会和企业捐赠者，通过环保组织输送了数十万美元。

"Groton was a big hole in the center of the corridor," said the TNC's Bishop as the tour ended. "In the future, river systems will become really critical as climate corridors and allow deer, turkey, endangered species and plants to shift further and further inland. The land linkages are there. The opportunity is there too."

“格罗顿是走廊中央的一个大洞，”全国过渡委员会的主教在参观结束时说。“未来，河流系统将变得非常重要，因为气候走廊将允许鹿、火鸡、濒危物种和植物越来越深入内陆。与土地的联系是存在的。机会也在那里。”