The Friends of Sandsage Bison Range in Garden City - The 6th Day morning of the Graduation Travel
在Garden City参观其实一个很重要的目的地就是这个 Friends of Sandsage Bison Range。至于为什么这里是这次旅行的一个重要目的地，那是因为在研究生三年级上学期的时候，了解到了bison作为北美大陆上的原始居民，实际上随着美国人对土地的开发，西部的不断扩充和占领， bison的生活领地不断缩小最后甚至导达几乎灭绝的程度。后来又通过设立保护区等等的方式，去保护这些几乎灭绝的动物，才保证了现在北美的大地上还有一部分bison。
One of the most important destinations in Garden City is the Friends of Sandsage Bison Range, and the reason why this is an important destination for this trip is that in the first semester of my third year's study, I learned that the bison, as the original inhabitants of the North American continent, were actually reduced and eventually became extinct as the Americans expanded and occupied the western part of the continent. In fact, as the Americans developed the land and expanded and occupied the West, the bison's living territory kept shrinking and finally even led to the point of almost extinction. Later, through the establishment of protected areas and so on, to protect these almost extinct animals, to ensure that now there are still part of the bison on the North American continent.
图片来源：网上
Image source: Internet
至今bison的生活踪迹只存在于各自的保护区里面，能够真正“野外”生存的bison实际上少之又少，所以能够参观一下bison保护区究竟是怎么回事，算是能够最近距离观察和感受，对得起曾经看过的一些的研究。另一方面是，此处作为bison保护区，其自然环境应该是最贴切地反映整个中部大平原原来的生态环境的，该地的植被等等的样子，可以作为一个整个中部大平原还没有开发之前的参照。这种相对偏向原始的状态，除了在这些保护区里面，其实很难找到更好的环境了。也和当时我们二年级的时候，RISD的老师都带着我们到墓地里面去学习植物，因为也就只有墓地，相对来说百年不变，而且植物是可以在那里随意生长的，在疫情期间，也没有其他人打扰，总之就是一片安静的土壤。
Today, the bison's traces of life only exist in their respective sanctuaries, and there are actually very few bison that can truly survive in the "wild", so to be able to visit the bison sanctuary what is actually going on, it is considered to be the closest distance to be able to observe and feel, and afford to have read some of the research. On the other hand, as a bison reserve, its natural environment should be the most apt reflection of the original ecological environment of the entire Central Great Plains, and the vegetation and other appearance of the site can be used as a reference for the entire Central Great Plains before development. It is hard to find a better environment for this relatively primitive state, except in these protected areas. Also with the time when we were in the second year, RISD teachers all took us to the cemetery to learn about plants, because it was the only place that remained relatively unchanged in ecology for hundreds of years, and the plants were allowed to grow there as they wished, and there were limited other people to disturb them during the outbreak, so all in all, it was just a quiet piece of soil.
这个保护区其实就是我上一篇文章里面的航拍的一角，只是相对来说，目前这块土地没有什么农业活动在上面。也就只有bison生活在上面。
This reserve is actually the corner of the aerial photo inside my last post, except that relatively speaking, there is not much agricultural activity on this land at the moment. There are only bison living on it.
整个保护区说大并不大，说小也并不小，旁边的灌溉农田可以作为参照，一个圆圈的直径大概是800米（0.5英里），美国之前的农田划分按照英里划分，基本上是一英里里面是一块大的土地，然后这个1英里x1英里的土地，又拆分成为四个， 这样就可以减少一些灌溉设施的半径， 对于各种农业器械什么的相对来说也比较友好。
The whole reserve is not big, nor small, and next to the irrigated farmland can be used as a reference, the diameter of a circle is about 800 meters (0.5 miles), the United States before the division of farmland according to the mile division, basically is a mile inside a large piece of land, and then this 1 mile x 1 mile land, and split into four, so that you can reduce some of the radii of the irrigation facilities for the It's relatively friendly to all kinds of farm equipment and stuff.
门口树立了一块大大的木板，上面盯着一些告示和标志，感觉这个保护区应该每年会有一定的狩猎活动举行，然后一方面是可以卖掉一些bison，获取一部分经济收入，毕竟每年都会有新的bison出生，一定的狩猎活动也可以控制这些动物的数量，同时淘汰一些老弱残牛，减少土地的承载压力。
There is a big wooden board erected at the entrance, staring at some notices and signs, I feel that this reserve should have certain hunting activities every year, and then on the one hand, it is possible to sell some bison to obtain part of the economic income, after all, every year there will be a new bison born, and certain hunting activities can control the number of these animals, and at the same time eliminating some of the old, weak and handicapped cows, to reduce the carrying pressure of the land. The above marks these different zones, which are not only for hunting but also for controlling the number of bison.
上面标志着这些不同的区域，实际上也意味着这里的牛应该是轮番放养，好让这里不同片区的土地能够得以适当的休息。
The different zones marked above actually mean that the bison here should be stocked in turn, so that the different areas of the land can have a rest.
保护区的门口往南边看，一望无际的长得及腰高的草。
From the entrance's door view to the south, there is a vast expanse of waist-high grass.
甚至还有很多sand brush，也就长得更高了，基本上有一个小孩那么高，高的有一米五了。
There are even a lot of sand brushes, which grow even taller, basically as tall as a child, with some as tall as one meter and a half.
保护区设立的亭子，实际上由于管理的面积比较大，而且分不同区域放养，根本不可能设计出一条trail让你在上面慢慢散步，不然就是起码10 mile起步的散步路径，在上面走路的话随便都得好几个小时，还得设立卫生间等等的设施。还会造成一些管理上的问题。所以这里似乎没有采取这种设计，来到这里门口，当然也没有人售票，因为平时根本没有人来参观，而且作为联邦补助的项目，似乎也没有怎么考虑商业性的发展。
The pavilions set up in the reserve, in fact, due to the management of a large area, and stocked in different areas, it is simply not possible to design a trail for you to walk slowly on, or else it is at least 10 miles to start the walking path, walking on it will take a few hours, and have to set up the facilities such as restrooms. It would also cause some management problems. So it doesn't seem to have been designed that way, and when I came to the entrance, of course, there were no ticket sales, because no one comes to visit during the week, and as a federally subsidized project, it doesn't seem to have been developed commercially.
在我正停好车打算先飞一下无人机一探究竟的时候，管理员出现了，开着一辆老旧的皮卡准备巡逻，看到陌生面孔的到来便前来询问，我们表示希望参观一下，管理员也很友好，跟我们说那样要换一辆车才能带我们进去参观，于是就来了上面的这两车。
As I was parking my car and planning to fly a drone to find out what was going on, the manager showed up in an old pickup truck, ready to patrol, and came to ask about the unfamiliar faces, and we expressed our desire to visit, and the manager was very friendly and told us that we would need a different vehicle to take us in, and that's when we came to the two vehicles above.
车辆看起来很破，坐上去也确实很破，但是并不阻碍其正常运作，上面没有空调，窗户开着，在这种崎岖的路段，启动着低速四驱前进，户外的热风呼啦啦地从窗外吹进来，经年累月似乎管理员也习惯了。
Vehicles look very old, sit on it is also feel broken, but does not hinder its normal operation, there is no air conditioning, and the window is open, On this kind of rough road, start the low-speed four-wheel-drive forward, outdoor hot wind blowing in through the window, over the years seems to administrators are also used to it.
附近的一些石油开采设备，应该是页岩油，就在这个保护区里面运行，想想也觉得有趣，一方面是要开采地下水，一方面还要开采下面的石油。不过这个夏天正是美国油价最贵的时候，价格高达5刀每加仑，这趟毕业旅行加油都花掉了一千多刀，当时我只有一张信用卡，当时用的boa的信用卡设置了3%的加油返现，一趟旅行下来各种花费返现都可以超过一百多刀，加油的返现就占据了很大一部分。
Some nearby oil extraction equipment, supposedly shale oil, operates inside this preserve, and it's interesting to think about it, trying to extract groundwater on the one hand, and the oil underneath on the other. But this summer is the most expensive time in the United States gas prices, the price is as high as $5 per gallon, and this graduation trip costs more than a thousand dollars on gas.
石油开采设施在炎热的高温下，无人值守运行着，似乎也与这个保护区并不违背，似乎也是这个保护区为了更好的增加收入而出租出去给石油公司。
The oil extraction facilities were running unmanned in the heat of the day and seemed not to be in contradiction with the reserve, which had been leased out to the oil companies to increase their revenues.
一路上穿过崎岖不平的路，经过一道道的门。
The way was through rough roads and through a gate.
这位年过半百，头发已经斑白的管理员，在烈日38摄氏度的高温下停车，打开一道道门，开车，又停车，把门关上，再带我们游览，和他聊天便开始给我们讲述附近的故事。
The manager, who was over 50 years old and had gray hair, stopped the car in the 38-degree Celsius heat, opened the gate, drives, stopped the car, closed the gate, and then took us on a tour when we talked to him, he starts to tell us stories about the neighborhood.
斑驳的车门，记录着岁月的痕迹。
The mottled doors of the car record the traces of the years.
后面带电的铁丝护栏，守护着一整片土地，不过管理员说，这些bison其实也已经习惯了圈里面的生活生存环境，毕竟外面都是农田，也没有更好吃的食物和水，它们一般也不会到处乱跑。
The back of the electrified wire fence, guarding a whole piece of land, but the administrator said, these bison in fact have been accustomed to the circle inside the living environment, after all, outside are farmland, there is no more delicious food and water, they generally do not run around.
附近的一些cattle pond ，大概是水井抽水上来，然后牲口们可以直接引用这里的水。
Some nearby cattle ponds, probably wells pumping water up, and then the livestock can directly quote the water here.
护栏外面的农田，和护栏里面
Farmland outside the fence, and inside the fence.
坐便车的蝗虫，很大一只， 也不知道这里有没有蝗虫的天敌，但是由于附近都是中心灌溉农田，连树都没有多少，很难形成鸟类的栖息空间。
The locust on the bus is very big, I don't know if there are any natural enemies of locusts here, but since the nearby farmland is irrigated by the center and there are not many trees, it is hard to form a habitat for birds.
管理员告诉这这里常年有50只左右的bison在这里生存，在1930-40年代这个保护区就开始引进接收bison了，之后基本上就是轮流放牧，自然方法管理。
The manager told me that about 50 bison are living here all year round, and that bison were introduced to this reserve in the 1930s-40s, and since then it's basically just rotational grazing and natural methods of management.
所有牛似乎都忙着吃草， 在这篇广袤的草原上，目前看来似乎这些高的草并不是他们的首选，他们更喜欢吃这些高的草的幼嫩版本，所到之处似乎就没有了这种高高的brush的踪影，只剩下矮小的。管理员告诉我，这种轮流休耕放牧的好处在于，所有这些bison不会把喜欢吃的草全部吃完， 导致一个地方的草过度消耗，不同时间放他们到不同的土地，有利于所有草都能够重新生长，而它们喜欢的不喜欢的，也能够有所控制。
All the cows seem to be busy grazing, and in this vast grassland, it seems as if these tall grasses are not their first choice at the moment, they prefer to eat the young versions of these tall grasses, and everywhere you go there seems to be no sign of these tall brushes, only the short ones left. The janitor told me that the advantage of this rotational fallow grazing is that all of these bison don't eat all of the grass they like to eat, leading to overconsumption of grass in one place and that releasing them to different lands at different times helps to allow all of the grass to re-grow, and their likes and dislikes can be somewhat controlled.
管理员向我们讲述bison的牛角，有时候牛和牛之间的斗牛争斗，后果就是牛角被撞掉，然后有些牛就从此没有角了，或许这个角也会重新长出来。
The manager told us about the bison's horn, and how sometimes bullfighting fights between bulls, and the consequence is that the horns are knocked off, and then some of the bulls are left without horns from that time on, and perhaps this horn grows back again as well.
牛骨和牛角，都已经变白。骨头里面结构，很像海绵。
The bones and horns of the bull have turned white. The inside of the bone is structured, much like a sponge.
炎炎夏日之下，管理员的目光，似乎像是以为老父亲，看着他亲手抚养长大的“孩子们”。
Under the hot summer sun, the manager's gaze seems to be like that of an old father looking at the "children" he has raised with his own hands.
很多牛在这种户外38摄氏度的天，也不知疲倦地吃草，身上的毛发太多，在这样的夏天也开始逐渐脱毛。 似乎每只牛都在尽力地脱掉身上的厚厚大衣。 不过这些毛皮实际上在冬天非常有用。很多cattle不能忍受户外的低温天气，在冬天只能躲在圈里，不然会冷死。但是bison这些原生就生在大自然里的动物，根本就不害怕寒冷。大牛和小牛，耳朵上基本上都有标记，记录着这只牛的信息。
Many cows graze tirelessly in the 38 degrees Celsius outdoor weather, and they have too much hair on their bodies, which starts to shed gradually this summer. It seems that every cow is doing its best to shed its thick coat. But that fur is actually very useful in the winter. Many castles can't tolerate the cold weather outdoors and have to hide in pens in the winter or die of cold. But bison, animals born natively in nature, aren't afraid of the cold at all. Big cows and calves, basically have markings on their ears, recording information about the cow.
户外的农田，正在被灌溉才能成长，看到这些灌溉的农田我开始和管理员讨论起这里的地下水矛盾来，我开始问这里的这些中心灌溉农田的地下水开采。实际上大家都直到这里的地下水开采量的大，有限的地下水越来越少，现在基本上所有依赖地下水的农田已经需要有license才可以抽水灌溉，基本上还会在上面安装水表以计算究竟抽取了多少地下水。
Outdoor farmland that is being irrigated in order to grow, and seeing these irrigated farmlands I started talking to the manager about the groundwater conflicts here, and I started asking about the groundwater extraction of these center-irrigated farmlands here. In fact, they all know that the groundwater is being extracted so much that the limited amount of groundwater is getting less and less, and now basically all the farms that depend on groundwater need to have licenses to pump and irrigate, and basically they all have meters installed on them to calculate how much groundwater is being extracted.
在讨论到ogallala aquifer 地下含水层根据相关研究只能继续开采30年左右的时候，管理员也不知道未来将会怎么办。我个人感觉所有的这些变数其实对这种保护区来说，也是脆弱的。或许那时候这位管理员早已退休，已经不再管理这片他打理了多年的土地。
When it comes to the Ogallala aquifer, the manager also doesn't know what the future holds when it comes to the underground aquifer which according to studies can only be pumped for another 30 years or so. Personally, I feel that all these variables are actually fragile for a protected area like this. Perhaps by that time the manager will have retired and will no longer be managing the land he has tended for so many years.
保护区外面的中心灌溉农田设施，我开始问管理员距离这里不远的地方，西南边的不远处有好几片灌溉农田已经荒废了，对这里有没有什么影响。管理员非常失望地说他知道那几个荒废了的灌溉农田，每年的春天和秋天，干旱的时候，沙子会从那个地方吹过来，吹到这个bison保护区上面。因为春天和秋天基本上没有什么作物遮挡这些沙子的传播，而风又比较大，就会吹走沙子。
With the center irrigated farmland facility outside the reserve, I began to ask the manager if there was any impact on the several irrigated farmlands not far from here, not far to the southwest, that had fallen into disuse. The superintendent said with great disappointment that he was aware of those abandoned irrigated fields and that in the spring and fall of each year when there is a drought, sand is blown from that area and onto the bison preserve. Because there are basically no crops in the spring and fall to shield this sand from spreading, and the winds are stronger, they blow the sand away.
户外的野草地，一望无际，很难想象那些受到长时间中心灌溉的农田，在没有地下水之后将会怎么办，或许将会很难恢复成现在这种状态，在风力呼呼的吹的中部大平原，将会是一场生态灾难。
Outdoor weed fields, as far as the eye can see, it's hard to imagine what farmland that has been irrigated by long centers will do without groundwater and perhaps will have a hard time recovering to the state it's in now, an ecological disaster in the Central Great Plains, where the winds are whistling.
管理员就这样开车通过一个个闸门，停车，下车，开门，开车，停车，关门， 开车不厌其烦。
The superintendent drives through the gates, stops, gets out, opens, drives, stops, closes, and drives tirelessly.
在这广袤的保护区里面，甚至一棵树都看不到，一切的一切都是孤零零的，仿佛就是一个草的沙漠。
Not even a single tree can be seen inside this vast reserve, everything is isolated as if it were a desert of grass.
这样的木桩，都成为鸟歇脚的好地方。有种居高临下的感觉。
Such stakes are good places for birds to rest their feet. There is a feeling of condescension.
这个标识牌，或许意味着这个能源公司租下了这块地的能源开发权吧。
This signage, perhaps, means that this energy company has owned the rights to the land for energy development.
一路上开始和管理员说到，我们昨天从内布拉斯加森林公园逛完，这里有没有什么种树的可能去保护这片土地呢。
Along the way started talking to the manager about whether there was any possibility of planting any trees here to protect the land just like the Nebraska National Forest we visited yesterday.
管理员指着远处这些矮小的树，告诉我们其实也并非没有尝试，在1900s的时候，那些种植内布拉斯加森林公园的植树造林团队也曾经在这里进行种树的尝试，可是或许是因为这里的温度太高了，水太少了，地太平了，很多树没有办法在这里恶略的天气下存活。最后整个团队放弃了，专注于内布拉斯加的森林公园，所以这里也就仅存这些百年老树在这里还仍然存活。现在看到的这些树，就是当时存活下来的。看着这些低矮的树，上面是的枝干很粗很粗，有点像沙漠里面生长的树。有时候想到天时地利人和，要想生存得好，缺一不可。
The janitor pointed to these short trees in the distance and told us that it was not for lack of trying, in the 1900s, those who planted the Nebraska National Forest reforestation team had also attempted to plant trees here, but perhaps because of the temperature here is too high, the water is too little, the ground is too flat, and a lot of trees cannot survive in the bad weather here. In the end, the whole team gave up and focused on Nebraska's National forest, so only these century-old trees are still alive here. The trees you see now are the ones that survived. Look at these low trees, above the branch trunk is very thick and thick, a little like the desert inside the tree growth. Sometimes I think of the right place, right time, right person, and right place, you can't have one without the other if you want to survive well.
我问管理员bison喜欢到树下面呆着吗，他告诉我有时候会的，树下有所遮蔽。
I asked the manager about the Bison. If the bison would like to stay underneath the trees, and he told me that sometimes they do, because there is some shade underneath the trees.
记得当时在维基百科上面查garden city的这个refugee，确实曾经看到这里有过一定的植树造林活动，只是后来就没有后来了。 或许就只剩下这一小团树还在努力地存活着。
I remembered that when I looked up Garden City's refugee in Wikipedia, I did see that there had been a certain amount of reforestation activities here, but then there was no more. Perhaps there is only this small group of trees left that are still trying to survive.
这段旅程的最后，管理员给了我一个来访人员登记表，填写了之后，我贴上了20美元以支持该地的建设活动。很感谢这一路的讲述参观介绍，收获颇丰。
At the end of the tour, the janitor gave me a visitor registration form, and after filling it out, I posted $20 to support the site's building activities. I am grateful for the rewarding narrative tour presentation.
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