California: Oldest Tree on Earth Is in Danger Due to…Development

Rarely has a tree been able to generate so much controversy over how to balance growth with the need for housing and protecting the rich biodiversity of its region.

The issue becomes even more serious when it comes to the oldest tree on the planet.

That’s exactly what’s happening in the little-known town of Jurupa Valley in Riverside County, California, where one of the strangest trees thrives: the Jurupa oak. It’s a clonal colony of trees in the Jurupa Mountains on the Crestmore Plateau that has survived for nearly 13,000 years through clonal reproduction, making it one of the oldest living trees in the world.

It is a group of shrubs located on the top of a hill in a rocky gully. But these shrubs are only the “crown” of a giant, sprawling oak tree, 27 meters tall and 9 meters wide. Most of the tree is underground, and has survived the Ice Age and rapid climate warming.

But today, as The Washington Post noted, environmentalists and local residents are concerned that the ancient tree is under threat because of… development in the area.

The city of 100,000 is preparing to approve a 1.4-square-mile development that includes a shopping complex, 1,700 homes and an elementary school.

The light industrial buildings will stand a few dozen meters from the ancient tree, and many in the city believe this will stimulate the local economy. The construction company says it plans to protect the tree, but environmentalists believe the construction and subsequent development could be fatal to the Jurupa oak.

The tree could not have been found in an unlikely place.

“It’s unique among most things on this planet,” said Aaron Echols, conservation chief for the Riverside-San Bernardino chapter of the California Native Plant Society. “We have to be absolutely certain that we’re not going to harm this plant.”

“It’s kind of a philosophical question,” said Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra, a professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Berkeley, about the difference between cloned and conventional trees. “If I have a tree in my yard and I cut it down and a stem comes out, I generally think it’s the same tree. But if I do that 10,000 times in a row, is it still the same tree?”

The tree couldn’t have been in an unlikely place, clinging to a rocky ridge overlooking barns, horse trails and ATV trails.

Of course, the valley is also not known for its environmental quality: the city is nationally known for the cluster of polluted acid pits that made it famous in the 1980s.

The Jurupa Valley Planning Commission has yet to decide whether the development can proceed. At a meeting in late June, more than half of local residents urged that the plan be rejected or at least modified.

“We have discovered a treasure on the world stage right here in our humble town,” said one resident. “Will one of the oldest living things on the planet die just because Jurupa Valley is building industrial and commercial complexes next to it?”

Part of the concern is that the Jurupa oak is growing far outside its natural range. While the area around Jurupa Valley was filled with Palmer oaks during the last ice age, they are all gone now—except for this one. Somehow, the tree is surviving in conditions that must be extremely hot and extremely dry.

“It’s already outgrown its ecological tolerance,” said Aaron Echols, executive director of the California Native Plant Society, a California environmental NGO. “It’s the only one here.”

Local scientists and environmentalists believe there may be a special microclimate or some kind of underground basin that supplies the tree with extra water. But the scientific analysis of the risks to the tree has not been made public — and the planning commission, which will decide on the project, says it cannot release the analysis because it would reveal the location of the tree, which is also considered sacred to indigenous people.

Tim Krantz, conservation director for the Wildlands Conservancy and professor emeritus at the University of Redlands, believes the tree is fed by groundwater flowing from nearby hills. He warns that if those hills were covered with asphalt and concrete, the groundwater flow would be cut off, potentially killing the tree.

Project managers

The responsible investment company, Richland Communities, claims it will protect the tree with a number of strategies. They have committed to building within 60 metres of the tree and keeping equipment 78 metres away from the tree. The company has also pledged to donate the land surrounding the tree directly to a non-profit, along with a $250,000 donation to protect it.

“Not approving the project does not protect the tree,” Jeremy Krot, spokesman for Richland Communities, said at the meeting. “If the project is not approved, it will not be protected. There will be no one responsible for protecting the tree.”

But environmentalists say a 60-metre distance is not enough to protect the oak tree. They argue that even a light industrial building near the oak tree could create a lot of vehicle traffic and an urban heat island of cement and asphalt could damage the tree.

Jim Petchos, Jurupa Valley’s master planner, said the city is considering creating a larger buffer zone around the tree and plans to further investigate the oak’s root system. In late June, planning commissioners listened carefully to environmentalists, who urged them to reject the project, and representatives of local plumbing and construction unions, who urged them to let the project go forward.

“It’s shocking, it’s really shocking – that we have this treasure that’s not being protected,” Arlene Pruitt, chairwoman of the planning commission, said at one point in Jurupa Oak.

The commissioners ultimately voted to postpone the decision until July 10. After that, they will either reject it or vote to approve the plan, sending it to the City Council for a vote.