This essay tracks the two-decade-long struggle to protect the delta smelt and other native fish populations in California. Through the case of the smelt, it asks how the goal of species preservation is integrated into contemporary governmental practice. What values are at play in efforts to sustain the existence of nonhuman life in a setting of intense competition over a diminishing and essential resource? What forms of knowledge are developed to gauge the health of threatened species, and what techniques are used to regulate the provision of water in the name of species protection? The essay suggests that smelt protection efforts are guided by two temporally distinct value orientations. The first is pastoriented, emphasizing the preservation of existing species as a good in itself. The second is future-oriented, focused on staving off an approaching ecological collapse whose onset is signaled by the smelt population’s decline.

中文翻译：

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指标物种：追踪加利福尼亚干旱地区的生态系统崩溃

这篇文章追踪了长达两个十年的努力，以保护加利福尼亚州的三角洲胡瓜鱼和其他本地鱼类种群。通过冶炼的案例，它询问物种保护的目标如何融入当代政府实践。在对日益减少的必要资源的激烈竞争中，在维持非人类生命存在的努力中，哪些价值观在发挥作用？开发了哪些形式的知识来衡量受威胁物种的健康状况，以及以物种保护的名义使用哪些技术来规范供水？这篇文章表明，冶炼保护工作受两个时间上不同的价值取向的指导。第一个是过去导向的，强调保护现有物种本身就是一种商品。二是面向未来，