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While the Jurupa Oak is ancient, it\u2019s no feeble thing. Living in Riverside County, California, the tree has beat the dry heat by growing<\/a> with it as it proliferates after being touched by wildfires. But the organism\u2014which withstood the Ice Age\u2014stands to be impacted by something more pedestrian: a developer by the name of Richland Communities.<\/p>\n The real estate investment company is seeking to build out a large structure that includes 1,700 residential properties as well as an industrial project and school, reports The Washington Post<\/em><\/a>. The potential plan would be only steps (or 250 feet) from the tree, according to local station KVCR<\/a>. Planning commissioners have postponed voting on the proposal until July 24 which will then send the project into the hands of City Council.<\/p>\n The Jurupa Oak might look like a cluster of bushes, but it\u2019s really one living thing connected under the soil. The tree has since gone on to become one of the oldest organisms in the world at what National Geographic projected to be 13,000 years old. Other estimates clock the self-cloning tree as up to 18,000 years old.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some conservationists are trying to pump the brakes on Richland Communities for fear of the tree potentially being damaged by the new development. The concrete foundation of the building standing so close to the tree\u2019s roots could create a warming effect that makes the area surrounding the tree around three times hotter, former environmental professor Dr. Tim Krantz\u00a0told KVCR. Richland Communities did not respond to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you took a thermometer out there today\u2026I guarantee you, it\u2019s gonna read more than 150 degrees, maybe 160,\u201d said Krantz. \u201cYou could crack an egg and fry it on that. You times 2.7 million square feet of that. And that\u2019s going to literally cook everything around it.\u201d And it\u2019s shocking that the tree is even still sprouting where it is, as the Post notes that the Oak is \u201cgrowing far outside its normal zone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Environmentalists told the outlet that there might be an underground water supply or specific microclimate that is bolstering the rare tree. There\u2019s no way to confirm this publicly as the planning commission of Jurupa Valley cannot release the location of the tree because it is\u00a0sacred to Native Americans in the area. But if the conservationists are right, the new development could potentially impact or impede this water supply.<\/p>\n Richland Communities says it has plans in place to protect the tree, as the Post<\/em> notes that they promised to give the surrounding land to a nonprofit to manage it. They\u2019ve also \u201ctentatively agreed to hand over the Oak tree\u2019s conservation duties to the Kizh Nation\u2014Gabriele\u00f1o Band of Mission Indians,\u201d according to KCVR. Kizh Nation\u2014Gabriele\u00f1o Band of Mission Indians did not respond to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n But many advocates don\u2019t see this as nearly enough to ensure the livelihood of the sacred tree. <\/p>\n \u201cFrom the beginning we\u2019ve been opposed to this development,\u201d Matthew Teutimez, a tribal biologist, told the L.A Times<\/em><\/a> in 2023. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the oak\u2014we\u2019re concerned about that whole landscape of hill complexes that have been used for ceremonial purposes for thousands of years.\u201d<\/p>\n The backlash to the plan means that public hearings were extended until this past Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have discovered a treasure on the world stage here in our humble city,\u201d Jenny Iyer, Jurupa Valley resident, said to the Post<\/em>. \u201cWill one of the oldest living beings on the planet die just because Jurupa Valley OKs industrial and business parks next to it?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to the CEO Daily newsletter to get global CEO perspectives on the biggest stories in business.\u00a0<\/span>Sign up<\/a>\u00a0for free.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n