"I don't even want to think about it, I want it to happen so bad," Carter says as he baits my hook after I've casted, yet again, into the trees.

Before leaving Brazil, I have a chance to meet with João Carlos Lutz and his wife, Marina Moraes Barros, who keep an apartment in São Paulo's tranquil Jardín district.

João Carlos has perfectly manicured white hair swept straight back off his forehead and a small mustache. Marina, 46, is fit and tanned and wears a gold necklace with a tiny bird charm. João Carlos doesn't speak much English, so Marina translates as she serves shots of strong Brazilian coffee in porcelain cups.

"The real problem is that we are naturalists, lovers of nature," Marina says. "Our dream is to continue like that, but with the pressure of the whole world begging for soybeans, it's difficult for us to continue."

"It's so rare and so special, what we have—cerrado, Pantanal, high land—that it needs to be preserved!" João Carlos says. "In wars, governments don't destroy museums, but in our country it's difficult to find anyone concerned with conservation."

"Conservation is in his blood," Marina explains. "His family, his grandfather, his aunts, his uncles—they were all naturalists, all lovers of nature."

"My whole life is this country," João Carlos says. "I'm 64, I have a small future. I want to start other things."

"Who would be your perfect buyer?" I ask Marina and João Carlos, who have already had five solid offers on the ranch, all at full asking price, from encroaching soybean, rubber, and sugar conglomerates.

"First, the buyer must be a real conservationist," Marina tells me.

"Then he would need to create a scientific foundation," João Carlos adds.

Their dream is turning out to be a tall order for Carter. It's tough to dam ten million holes with only ten human fingers.

"João Carlos was a spark of sanity in all this madness," Carter said, addressing the monstrous task at hand while casting for corvina back at his camp. "I was neck-deep in mud here, and he was a shining light for me. If we can't get this done, there's something really wrong with the world."