密歇根新闻广播 美罗亚尔岛国家公园的狼只剩两只

The National Park Service is taking a closer look at whether or not to bring more grey wolves to Isle¹ Royale National Park. Only two wolves remain on the island now.

To help make its decision, the park service wants to hear from you. It's accepting public comments on the question right now.

At one point, there were as many as 50 wolves on Isle Royale. But Phyllis Green, Superintendent² of the Isle Royale National Park, says that number was abnormal.

"Fifty was a very unusually high number—probably one of the highest concentrations of wolves ever found per acre," Green says.

The island kept the animals from dispersing³, and that causes problems for wolves.

"Islands are pretty hard on any species," she says. "You kind of have to adapt and survive or leave."

She says oftentimes a species will disappear from an island completely. That's a risk for wolves on Isle Royale.

The proposed courses of action

The National Park Service plans to assess four different courses of action to help the wolf population.

The first option is no action—to let nature take its course. Green says that's typically what the park service opts⁴ for.

But that could be risky⁵.

Green says "very low, intermittent⁶ introduction of wolves naturally" caused wolves to inbreed. That's likely what made it hard for the animals to sustain their population.

For that reason, the park service is considering bringing animals in to reestablish the population.

Alternative B does just that. It brings a new group of wolves to the island during a one-time period, which could take a couple years.

"And the question is, could you improve upon the start-up point?" Green says. "Is there a way to introduce a certain number of wolves over a short time period that have enough genetic⁷ diversity that they could carry themselves through the next cycle on Isle Royale?"

The third option, Alternative C, would bring wolves onto the island as often as needed throughout the next 20 years at least.

"So under that scenario⁸ you'll do some type of a start-up population, or intermixing with the current population—provided they're still there—and you would add wolves at a certain interval," Green says. "But that's still very problematic, because wolves don't exactly greet each other with open arms as often as with bared fangs⁹."

With that in mind, Green says this plan would require "a pretty good backup strategy."

The final alternative is a bit of a hybrid—the park service would take no action right now. But it could decide to introduce wolves later.

"It's going to be a little more complicated than the other two alternatives, because it's going to try to be more adaptive and really evaluating what's going on in the park and then adjusting the course forward from there," Green says.

Now the plan is to evaluate the options.

"I think it's a real positive in our society that we're taking a look at how we help the natural world stay intact," Green says. "But the natural world also has its own boundaries and processes and I think we need to be respectful of that as we think about whether we should tinker in those processes."

The public is invited to read the park service's revised scope of the environmental impact statement and to comment.

These comments will be added to ones the service has already received from people in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and 19 other countries.

1 isle   

n.小岛，岛

参考例句：

• He is from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.他来自爱尔兰海的马恩岛。
• The boat left for the paradise isle of Bali.小船驶向天堂一般的巴厘岛。

2 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

3 dispersing   

adj. 分散的 动词disperse的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• Whereas gasoline fumes linger close to the ground before dispersing. 而汽油烟气却靠近地面迟迟不散。
• Earthworms may be instrumental in dispersing fungi or bacteria. 蚯蚓可能是散布真菌及细菌的工具。

4 opts   

v.选择，挑选( opt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• One player hoping to get another chance to shine if Mourinho opts to rest Cole backBridge. 假如穆里尼奥安排阿。科尔轮休，那么同一位置上的将会得到一个上场的机会来证实自己。 来自互联网
• If he opts out this summer, he d sign a five year deal. 如果今夏跳出，他估计会签五年。 来自互联网

5 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

6 intermittent   

adj.间歇的，断断续续的

参考例句：

• Did you hear the intermittent sound outside?你听见外面时断时续的声音了吗？
• In the daytime intermittent rains freshened all the earth.白天里，时断时续地下着雨，使整个大地都生气勃勃了。

7 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

8 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

9 fangs   

n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座

参考例句：

• The dog fleshed his fangs in the deer's leg. 狗用尖牙咬住了鹿腿。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Dogs came lunging forward with their fangs bared. 狗龇牙咧嘴地扑过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》