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In July, Naturally Riverside featured the Jurupa Oak, California's oldest tree. At least 13,000 years old, the Jurupa Oak, sometimes known as the "Hurunga Oak," ranks among the world's top few oldest living organisms. Whether or not it is going to live another 13,000 years is not at all certain.
The previous article described the Jurupa Valley Planning Commission meeting to consider the Jurupa Valley Rio Vista Specific Plan, which allows more than 900 acres of residential and industrial development near the oak. The Jurupa Oak loomed large in the conversation. At that time, the Commission delayed voting, asking for more detailed studies to determine how the tree gets its water, how a conservation organization would manage and protect the tree, and what size buffer area would reduce potential problems.
A lot has happened since that article, and it is time for an update. In August, the Commission eventually approved the Plan. On September 6, the Jurupa Valley City Council voted 3 to 2 to approve it with a 450-foot buffer around the plant. The complete final Environmental Impact Report was not made available to the public.
On Friday, October 4, four non-profit groups filed a lawsuit in Riverside Superior Court to question the approval: Friends of Riverside's Hills, the Center for Biological Diversity, the California Native Plants Society, and Endangered Habitats League. The focus for those groups ranges from the local to the state to the national. The suit alleges that the environmental review violates the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Specifically, the lawsuit questions whether the impacts of development might be harmful to the Jurupa Oak as well as other potential environmental impacts to the immediate region. If a judge finds that CEQA is violated, the complainants seek an injunction to the development. The goal of the lawsuit is not to stop development altogether but to include a 100-acre preserve that includes the tree and extends from the west side of the tree.
After sitting quietly on private land for decades, the future of the Jurupa Oak is at a crossroads. If it is adequately protected from surrounding development, it will still need to cope with an increasingly hot and dry environment in the near future. Given the possibility of a formal preserve and the fact that the oak has seen 13,000 to 18,000 years of climate change already, I'm betting on the Jurupa Oak.
Watch this space for updates as they occur.
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To learn more about the Jurupa Oak and to keep up with its adventures, check out the the webpages of the Friends of the Jurupa Oak. If you can't get enough about the oak, those pages are filled with lots of information, such as maps, as well as a petition for saving Riverside County's most significant natural wonder.
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