Wheeler Peak, on Nevada's eastern border with Utah, rises to a height of 13,063 feet with a spectacular glacial cirque on its northeast side. Highpoint of the Snake Range, Wheeler Peak cycles through five life zones, from the hot stony desert to alpine tundra, all within a five mile line. Along the edge of this cirque is the home of colossal bristlecone pines. Standing as they have for millennia, in their fields of stone, they overlook the desert far below.
The Schulman discovery in 1957 of old bristlecones in California brought much attention to the bristlecones in the Wheeler area. With park development in mind, the Nevada congressional delegation asked the National Park Service for a study of the area. Some initial research was done but months went by with no further movement.
A local group led by author-conservationist, Darwin Lambert, formed the Great Basin National Park Association. Lambert and his group belived the bristlecones of Wheeler to be every bit as old as those in California and worked hard to get scientific research to the area. The University of Nevada showed some interest but money was short and the theory that the oldest trees were in the White Mountains of California left the group without the support they needed. Lambert and his friends were longtime travelers to Wheeler Peak, and many of its bristlecones were lovingly given names by members of the groupnames like "Buddha" and "Socrates". One tree was named "Prometheus"
The Association failed to get the research project, but the colossal trees along with the great beauty of the area was enough to bring attention to the Advisory Board on National Parks who endorsed the area as worthy of consideration. Bills were introduced in both houses of Congress and their passing seemed imminent, but grazing, mining and hunting special interests intervened, and the legislation failed. Legislative efforts continued year after year without success.
While reading a newsletter clipping from the University of North Carolina, Lambert was dealt an almost unbelivable blow. He had stumbled upon a story that escaped the public and conservationists alike. Late in the year of 1964 a young geographer, a student at this university, who was working toward his doctorate, was in the Southwest searching for evidence of Ice Age glaciers. The Wheeler Peak glacier and related phenomena attracted him. When this student and his associate came upon the bristlecones at the timberline, they began to take core samples from several trees, discovering one to be over 4,000 years old. Needless to say they were excited, and at some point, their only coring tool broke. The end of the field season was nearing. They asked forand I still can't beleive it!were granted permission by the U.S. Forest Service to cut the tree down. It was "Prometheus".
After cutting the trunk at a convenient level, which happened to be more than eight feet above the original base, 4,844 rings were counted. This student had just killed the oldest living thing on earth! Eventually, dendrochronologists determined the tree to be 4,950 years of age.
It took a couple of years for the death of "Prometheus" to spread across the U.S., and with all the protests that took place, the U.S. Forest Service finally took an interest in bristlecone security. The scientific community tightened the already strict control under its supervision. Of particular concern to scientists is the "deadwood" on the ground so prized by collectors for profit. Bristlecone deadwood can lay on the ground for thousands of years after the tree that produced it has died, thereby making it important in tree-ring chronologies.
Bristlecone pine groves are found at elevations up to 11,000 feet in six states, in both national forests and unappropriated public lands. Public interest had to be heightened to control the depredations, and had become urgent.
Finally the Wheeler Peak bristlecones were in the spotlight. A member of the park association said, "Prometheus might become widely enough known as a martyr to save other ancients."
In 1986 The Great Basin National Park was established and the association that started the process, so many years earlier, had finally reached its goal.