AGRICULTURE REPORT - Protecting the Nation's Forests

AGRICULTURE REPORT - Protecting the Nation's Forests
By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Tuesday, November 15, 2005

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

The Forest Service is responsible for the forests on public lands in the United States. It supervises almost seventy-eight million hectares of forests, grasslands², rivers and lakes. It is an agency of the Department of Agriculture.

Forest Service officials say there are four major threats to forests and wild lands in America.

The first is the threat of fire and fuel. This year, forest fires have burned more than three million hectares of land. That is almost two times as much as the ten-year average.

Fires are a natural part of forest growth, but they can also threaten lives and property.

An airplane drops firefighting chemicals
Fuel is dead plant material and small plants that grow under tall trees. As much as forty-nine metric tons of fuel can build up on every hectare of forest floor.

The Forest Service estimates that up to one-fourth of the forests it supervises have dangerous levels of fuel. Sometimes foresters set controlled fires to remove the fuel. Other times the fuel must be cleared by hand.

Another threat to forests is from invasive species. These are non-native plants and animals that push out native kinds. They can cause a lot of economic damage. Some invaders³ are insects like the Asian longhorn beetle⁴. Some are diseases like white pine blister⁵ rust⁶. Others are plants like the fast-growing kudzu vine.

The Foreign Service has hundreds of experts who try to develop ways to deal with invasive species.

The agency says another threat to the health of wild lands is the loss of open space. It says over one hectare of forest or grassland¹ is lost to development every minute.

Development also leads to the division of large natural areas into smaller ones. Many animals need wide open spaces. Also, building near wild lands increases the risk to homes from forest fires.

The fourth threat to public lands is what the Forest Service calls unmanaged recreation. People can hunt, fish and camp in many national forests. But careless use of motor vehicles and other actions can be destructive.

On November second, the Forest Service released a new rule on the use of motor vehicles on public lands. The rule requires each national forest to identify roads and paths that are open to motor vehicles. Vehicles will be banned from other areas. The ban, however, will not affect snowmobiles.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter.  I'm Steve Ember.

1 grassland   

n.牧场，草地，草原

参考例句：

• There is a reach of grassland in the distance.远处是连绵一片的草原。
• The snowstorm swept the vast expanse of grassland.暴风雪袭击了辽阔的草原。

2 grasslands   

n.草原，牧场( grassland的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Songs were heard ringing loud and clear over the grasslands. 草原上扬起清亮激越的歌声。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Grasslands have been broken and planted to wheat. 草原已经开垦出来，种上了小麦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 invaders   

入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They prepared to repel the invaders. 他们准备赶走侵略军。
• The family has traced its ancestry to the Norman invaders. 这个家族将自己的世系追溯到诺曼征服者。

4 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。

5 blister   

n.水疱；(油漆等的)气泡；v.(使)起泡

参考例句：

• I got a huge blister on my foot and I couldn't run any farther.我脚上长了一个大水泡，没办法继续跑。
• I have a blister on my heel because my shoe is too tight.鞋子太紧了，我脚后跟起了个泡。

6 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。