Prometheus (tree) facts for kids
Prometheus (also known as WPN-114) was a very old Great Basin bristlecone pine tree. It grew high up on Wheeler Peak in eastern Nevada, United States. This single tree was at least 4,862 years old, and possibly even more than 5,000 years old. In 1964, a student and people from the United States Forest Service cut it down for research. They did not know it was the oldest tree in the world at the time. The way it was cut down is still a topic of discussion today.
The tree was named after Prometheus, a figure from old myths. He was known for giving fire to humans. The name WPN-114 was given by the researcher, Donald Rusk Currey. It meant it was the 114th tree he studied in White Pine County, Nevada.
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About the Prometheus Tree
Prometheus was part of a group of bristlecone pine trees. They grew near the tree line on Wheeler Peak, inside Great Basin National Park. Wheeler Peak is the tallest mountain in the Snake Range. It is also the highest mountain completely within Nevada. The bristlecone pines on this mountain are found in different areas. One area is easy to reach by a popular walking path.
However, Prometheus grew in a spot that you could only get to by hiking off the main trails. Around 1958 or 1961, some nature lovers admired the area where Prometheus grew. They gave names to some of the biggest or most special trees there, including Prometheus.
At first, Donald Currey thought the tree was at least 4,844 years old. A few years later, another scientist, Donald Graybill, found it was 4,862 years old. He worked at the University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. These ages were found by counting the tree's rings. This method is called dendrochronology. The rings were counted from a piece of the trunk cut about 2.5 meters (8 feet) above the ground. This is because the very first rings were missing lower down. If you add the estimated years for the tree to grow to that height, plus any missing rings, the tree was likely at least 5,000 years old when it was cut.
This made Prometheus the oldest known single living thing at that time. It was even older than the Methuselah tree in California. Later, the Methuselah tree was found to be 4,850 years old. In 2010, a bristlecone pine in California was said to be 5,062 years old. But this tree has not been found since 2013. Its tree core is also missing.
Whether Prometheus was the oldest living thing depends on how you define "oldest" and "organism". Some plants grow in groups where all the parts are genetically the same. These are called clonal organisms. For example, a creosote bush or an aspen grove can be very old if you count the whole group. The oldest known clonal organism is a grove of quaking aspens in Utah called Pando. It might be as old as 80,000 years. But the individual stems in a clonal organism are not that old. So, until 2012, Prometheus was the oldest single organism ever found. Its oldest rings were more than 4,862 years old.
Why Prometheus Was Cut Down
In the 1950s, scientists who study tree rings (dendrochronologists) were looking for the oldest trees. They wanted to use tree rings to learn about past climates. They also wanted to date old buildings and understand how long living things can survive. Edmund Schulman found that bristlecone pines in California were older than any other tree species known. This made people want to find even older bristlecones. They hoped to find one older than the Methuselah tree, which Schulman had dated to over 4,700 years in 1957.
Donald R. Currey was a student studying the climate changes of the Little Ice Age. He used tree ring methods for his research. In 1963, he learned about the bristlecone pines on Wheeler Peak. He thought some of them looked very old because of their size and how they grew. He took core samples from some trees and found some were over 3,000 years old. But he could not get a full set of core samples from Prometheus (WPN-114).
The exact reasons for cutting the tree are not fully clear. Some say Currey broke his tool for taking core samples. Others say he broke two tools. Another story is that a core sample was too hard to get and would not give enough information. Currey himself said the core samples were too small and hard to read. So, he used a chainsaw to cut the tree down.
There are also different ideas about how special Prometheus was in its grove. Some believe Currey and the Forest Service thought it was just one of many old trees. Others, including some who were there, felt the tree was clearly unique. They thought it was much older than the other trees. It is not known if Currey agreed with this view.
It is also unclear why such an old tree needed to be cut for Currey's study. The Little Ice Age started about 600 years ago. Many other trees could have provided the information he needed for that time. However, in his report, Currey said the Little Ice Age covered a much longer period, from 2000 BC until his time. He also mentioned that he cut the tree to see if the oldest bristlecones were only found in California. Some scientists had claimed this was true.
Whatever the reasons, the tree was cut down in August 1964. Several pieces of the tree were taken away for study. First, Currey studied them, and then others did in later years. Parts of the tree are now in different places. You can see them at the Great Basin National Park visitor center in Baker, Nevada, and the Ely Convention Center in Ely, Nevada. Pieces are also at the University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research in Tucson, Arizona. The U.S. Forest Service's Institute of Forest Genetics in Placerville, California also has parts.
What Happened After
Many people believe that cutting down Prometheus helped lead to more efforts to protect bristlecone pines. It especially helped protect the groves on Wheeler Peak. There was already a plan to make the mountain a national park before this happened. Twenty-two years later, the area officially became a national park.
Images for kids
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The grove where Prometheus grew, with the headwall of Wheeler Peak in the distance
See also
In Spanish: Prometeo (árbol) para niños
