國家地理:牧野分歧(5)

We're winding along a ridge on one of APR's newest properties, the 46,000-acre Two Crow Ranch, which abuts the Charles M. Russell refuge on the south side of the Missouri River. I ride shotgun; Two Crow's former manager Danny Maag sits in the back. There are no bison here yet, only cattle. They look up dimly as we pass; they seem small and tame when compared with APR's bison across the river. Two Crow extends as far as the eye can see along the wrinkled, coulee-slashed hills of the Missouri Breaks that border the river. They look as if you took the plains and crumpled them, like a car in a pileup. It's rough country.

我們在美國草原保護(hù)區(qū)新購置的46000英畝的雙鴉牧場的一座山脊上蜿蜒前行，該牧場毗鄰密蘇里河南岸的查爾斯·馬里恩·拉塞爾避難所。我坐在旅客座，雙鴉牧場的前任經(jīng)理丹尼·馬格坐在后面。這里現(xiàn)在還沒有野牛，只有家牛。當(dāng)我們經(jīng)過的時候，它們緩慢地抬頭看了一下，跟美國草原保護(hù)區(qū)河那邊養(yǎng)的野牛相比，它們看起來又小又溫順。雙鴉牧場一眼望不到頭，河岸邊的密蘇里峽谷的山脈起伏蜿蜒、溝壑縱橫?？雌饋硐褚黄荒蟀櫫说钠皆?，又像是堆起來的汽車。這里是崎嶇山區(qū)。

"I can show you where a horse closed my eye," Maag says. "I can show you where I almost got shot." We pass a tumbledown homestead tucked into a ridge. Local lore holds that the owner used to hire ex-convicts to help at the ranch, but that some went back to jail because it was nicer.

馬格說：“我可以帶你看有一匹馬差點(diǎn)要了我的命的地方。我還可以帶你看我差點(diǎn)被擊中的地方?！蔽覀兟愤^了一個搖搖欲墜的房子，它剛好隱藏在山脊上。據(jù)說這座房子的主人曾經(jīng)雇傭過有前科的犯人在牧場幫忙，但其中有一些人又回到了監(jiān)獄，因?yàn)楸O(jiān)獄比這里的環(huán)境好。

All this to say, there have been generations of people who made a life on this land in the years since Lewis and Clark first traveled up the river. On fences all along the roads near APR, locals have strung up banners printed with the image of a father and son clad in cowboy garb, silhouetted against a sunset: "Save the Cowboy, Stop American Prairie Reserve." LaTray has placed many of these signs herself. "I think the prairie reserve's endgame is to depopulate this area," she says. APR's efforts to restore ecological resilience, she fears, threaten the cultural resilience of the people who live here. "There's a lot at risk," she says.

這一切都證明了劉易斯和克拉克第一次渡過河的時候，已經(jīng)有數(shù)代人在這里生存。在美國草原保護(hù)區(qū)附近道路邊的柵欄上，當(dāng)?shù)厝私壣狭艘恍┯≈粚ι碇Ｗ醒b的父子的橫幅，夕陽映照下上面寫著：“拯救牛仔，阻止美國草原保護(hù)區(qū)。”拉特雷自己就布置了很多這樣的標(biāo)志。她說：“我認(rèn)為草場保護(hù)區(qū)的目的就是為了把這里的人驅(qū)逐出去?！彼龘?dān)心美國草原保護(hù)區(qū)恢復(fù)生態(tài)韌性的措施會威脅到這里居民的文化韌性?！坝泻艽蟮娘L(fēng)險(xiǎn)”，她說。