PBS高端访谈:美国国家公园中的珍宝屡遭偷盗（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: Here in the United States, the national parks belong to all of us.

But as Tyler Fingert from the Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University reports, that shared treasure is at risk of being chipped away.

TYLER FINGERT: Across the desert landscape, their silhouette is unmistakable.

At Saguaro National Park near Tucson, cacti are the main attraction for hikers like Jean Gascho.

JEAN GASCHO, Hiker: You feel like you're so much a part of the desert and just surrounded by these beautiful cactuses.

TYLER FINGERT: But the park's namesake cactus is facing a threat from thieves.

KEVIN DAHL, National Parks Conservation Association: It's ironic that we set aside great places like our Saguaro National Park, and people think that they can just come take the iconic cactus for which the park is named.

TYLER FINGERT: Kevin Dahl works with the National Parks Conservation Association.

He says being a cactus thief can be lucrative.

Each one can fetch $100 or more per foot.

KEVIN DAHL: It's absolute robbery, and it's absolute criminal activity.

And it's for profit.

A mature saguaro in a landscape adds something to the value of the home or the business that's for sale or rent.

TYLER FINGERT: Across the country, other parks are facing a similar threat.

Last year, Death Valley National Park says some visitors walked off with fossil footprints.

At Joshua Tree National Park, people have stolen artifacts from old mines.

BILL PARKER, Petrified Forest National Park: Some parks deal with people taking rocks.

Some parks deal with people taking plants and animals.

Places like Mount Rushmore, people take the chips that were created when they created the sculptures.

TYLER FINGERT: Bill Parker leads the Natural and Cultural Resources Team at Petrified Forest National Park.

Here, he says, visitors take small pieces of petrified wood.

BILL PARKER: Some people do still take wood, and we catch them and give them tickets.

But whole areas aren't being stripped clean, as was thought in the past.

TYLER FINGERT: The park turned to photography to test the theory, taking century-old photographs and comparing them to recent photos taken at the same location.

And the results, says Parker, if you look at photos from today, most of the artifacts are still intact.

BILL PARKER: It's a souvenir that people want, but one thing the photography project has showed us is that most people do the right thing.

TYLER FINGERT: Some people have even returned stolen wood, and it ends up here, often referred to as the conscience pile.

Back in Saguaro National Park, to help make sure theft doesn't happen, the National Park Service has turned to technology, putting tiny passive trackers in some of their cacti, allowing them to identify ones stolen from the park.

Of their roughly 1.9 million saguaro cacti, only 1,000 of them are tagged, the ones close to roads and the smaller cacti, those most likely to be stolen.

The trackers, which are similar to pet microchips, don't actively broadcast a signal, so if a cactus goes missing, Ray O'Neil, Saguaro National Park's chief ranger, says the only way to know if it's from the park is to scan it using a reader, making the trackers more symbol than substance.

RAY O'NEIL, Chief Ranger, Saguaro National Park: Our biggest hope is that it's a deterrent, that people recognize that if they steal cacti from Saguaro National Park, that there's a chance that we're going to be able to identify that cactus came from the park.

TYLER FINGERT: While technology is helping to track natural resources, education is still a huge part of keeping parks pristine.

And Kevin Dahl wants to make sure that visitors understand the national parks are saved by the people for the people.

KEVIN DAHL: It's a selfish thing when someone does an act of vandalism or steal something from a national park.

And it's selfish and it's an act against the American public.

TYLER FINGERT: Pieces of American history being taken from some of America's most treasured land.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Tyler Fingert at Saguaro National Park in Arizona.

朱蒂·伍德拉夫：在美国，国家公园属于我们大家。

但泰勒·费格特从亚利桑那州国家大学克罗凯特新闻与大众传播学院发来报道，共享的财富正面临着被剥夺的风险。

泰勒·费格特：穿越沙漠，它们的轮廓清晰地展现在我们的视野。

在图森附近的巨人柱国家公园，对于像基恩·加斯乔这样的徒步旅行者，巨人柱是主要景观。

基恩·加斯乔，徒步旅行者：你会觉得你是沙漠中的一部分，被这些美丽的巨人柱包围着。

泰勒·费格特：但是公园的名字，巨人柱正面临偷盗的威胁。

凯文·达尔，国家公园保育协会：讽刺的是，我们不去理会巨人柱国家公园这样棒的景致，人们认为他们可以拿走公园里的标志性景观，巨人柱，正如公园名字所示。

泰勒·费格特：凯文·达尔与国家公园保育协会合作。

他说，巨人柱偷盗行为可能有利可图。

每个巨人柱每英尺能收100美元甚至更多。

凯文·达尔：这是绝对的抢劫，是绝对的犯罪活动。

这是利益驱使。

景观中一株成熟的巨人柱可增加住宅或商铺的价值。

泰勒·费格特：在全国各地，其他公园也面临着类似的威胁。

去年，死亡谷国家公园称一些游客在化石上行走。

在约书亚树国家公园，人们从旧矿中偷走了文物。

比尔·派克，石化林国家公园：一些公园里，人们拿走石块，园方需要处理。

有的公园，人们拿走植物和动物，园方需要处理。

像拉什莫尔山国家纪念公园这样的地方，人们会拿走当时制作雕塑时留下的石片。

泰勒·费格特：比尔·帕克在石化林国家公园领导自然和文化资源团队。

他说，游客们会拿走小块石化木材。

比尔·帕克：有些人拿走木头，我们捉住他们，给他们开罚单。

但整个地区并没有被彻底清理干净，这与过去所设想的不同。

泰勒·费格特：公园转而使用摄影技术来进行测试，拍摄百年历史照片，并将它们与最近在同一地点拍摄的照片进行比较。

结果，帕克说，如果你看看今天的照片，大部分的文物仍然是完整的。

比尔·帕克： 这是人们想要的纪念品，但是摄影对比告诉我们，大多数人做了正确的事情。

泰勒·费格特：有些人甚至还归还了偷走的木头，它们在这里，通常被称为良心堆。

回到巨人柱国家公园，为了避免偷窃行为的发生，国家公园服务部门转而使用了技术手段，他们在巨人柱中放置了微小的被动跟踪器，这样他们就能识别从公园里偷走的东西。

在他们约190万株巨人柱中，只有1000株做了标记，被标记的都是那些靠近道路较小的巨人柱，是那些最可能被偷走的巨人柱。

与宠物微芯片类似，跟踪器不主动发出信号，所以如果巨人柱遗失，巨人柱国家公园首席巡视员雷·奥尼尔说，确定它是否属于公园的唯一方法就是用阅读器对它进行扫描，这样跟踪器识别的内容更多的是符号而不是物体本身。

雷·奥尼尔，巨人柱国家公园首席巡视员：我们最大的希望是，让这形成一种威慑力量，人们意识到如果他们从巨人柱国家公园偷走巨人柱，我们就有机会识别出巨人柱的出处。

泰勒·费格特：虽然科技手段可帮助追踪自然资源，但教育仍是保持公园纯净的一个重要方式。

凯文·达尔想确保游客们明白国家公园依靠大家，服务大家。

凯文·达尔：有人破坏国家公园或偷东西，是一件自私的事情。

这是自私的，这是不利于美国公众的一种行为。

泰勒·费格特：美国历史的点滴正被从美国最珍贵的土地上夺走。

PBS NewsHour，我是泰勒·费格特，从巨人柱国家公园发来报道。