Donald Rusk Currey

Donald Rusk Currey (* 1934, † June 6, 2004 ) was an American professor of geography. In research circles, he is known for his research on relics of the prehistoric Lake Bonneville in the eastern part of the Great Basin in what is now Utah. In public, he was known primarily for led by him as graduate student controversial Fällaktion the tree Prometheus. This copy of longevity pine ( Pinus longaeva ) was with an estimated age of about 4900 years until 2012 as the oldest living tree world.

Currey and the tree Prometheus

Fällaktion

1963 Currey was postgraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation Currey studied the climatic conditions during the Little Ice Age using dendrochronology aids.

Among stocks of Bristlecone Pine ( Pinus aristata ), which at the time as a local variety even today regarded as a separate species Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva ) was counted, many tree specimens were recognized at the time of old age, older than any previously known individual trees. 1963 Currey was applied to a population of long-lived pine on Wheeler Peak, which is situated in the Snake Range of Nevada 's second highest mountain, attentive. As he traveled through the area in the summer of 1964, he did not know that researchers had already studied the area in front of him. Size and growth rate of some specimens, he concluded that some very old specimens existed in the population. To test his suspicion that he began to examine tree-ring samples. When he found out that some copies were over 3000 years old, his attention turned to a special tree specimen that he sided with the working name WPN -114, which was, however, named Prometheus before him.

Currey was not able to gain suitable overlapping tree ring samples from WPN -114. At least four attempts and one about 70 inches long drill he broke two drill bits, but did not get to the goal. Then he asked the United States Forest Service for permission for felling of the tree. Since he National Monument (now part of the larger Great Basin National Park ) had relations with officials of the Forest Service at nearby Lehman Caves, he directed his application to the Forest Service Ranger Donald E. Cox; in which he asked for permission to cut down the tree in order to examine the whole tree stump can. Cox considered the application of scientifically well-founded and convinced her supervisor are that the affected tree copy no notable landmark (for example: Natural Monument ) is. Then the permission was granted.

Cox Currey informed about the completed permission and sent Currey a team of the Forest Service to carry out the Fällaktion. The tree was cut on 6 August 1964 and dismantled to Baumscheibe samples. These were examined by Currey and subsequently by other researchers. It has surprisingly been found that the tree was older than any living non- clonal organism worldwide.

Gleanings

It took some years until the information about the Fällaktion of Prometheus penetrated to the public, followed by raised critical voices. In particular, the decision of the U.S. Forest Service for permission to Tree felling was criticized. Some critics questioned the meaning of the Fällaktion because the former research subject by Currey, the Little Ice Age, began only in the 14th century. Currey itself, however, argues in his work from 1965 that he had gone out of a stretch of the Little Ice Age to back to back to 2000 BC. Currey claimed in this publication, even that he did not let the tree fell because of his studies on the Little Ice Age, but rather to pursue the question of whether the oldest bristlecone pines ( see the remark in the previous section to bristlecone pines and long-lived pines), as it was then claimed by some dendrochronologists, stood in the California White Mountains.

The incident led to a more restrictive handling of Fällgenehmigungen for old tree specimens; the expulsion of the larger Great Basin National Park ( perceives the supervision of the United States Park Service ) can be attributed to this incident. Likewise, followed in response to the decision to keep the exact location of the tree copy Methuselah in the Inyo National Forest secret. This tree is presently considered as the oldest living specimen of longevity jaw. Currey involved himself in the lobbying efforts to win the Congress of the United States for the upgrading of the area a national park.

Life and work

Currey joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1969 he received the Ph. D. from the University of Kansas, and in 1970 the faculty of the Department of Geography at the University of Utah in.

About two decades researching Currey to relics of the prehistoric Lake Bonneville Lake in the eastern part of the Great Basin. He has published several studies.

After a sudden illness Currey died at the age of 70 years.

Currey was honored during the 2005 annual meeting, held by the Association of American Geographers. The Department of Geography of the University of Utah established a scholarship named after him.

Works

• Donald Rusk Currey: An Ancient Bristlecone Pine Stand in Eastern Nevada. In: Ecology. 46, No. 4, 1965, pp. 564-566 (Abstract).