And/Or
I didn’t know there were 13,000 years old trees, a 13,000 years old oak tree, a 13,000 years old oak tree in Riverside County, California. Southern California has some wonderful old oak groves scattered around, I’ve been lucky enough to wander a few.
“It started life near the end of the last Ice Age, nestled between two boulders on a rise in the Jurupa Hills of Riverside County — a shrubby oak tree estimated to be 13,000 years old, making it one of the oldest living organisms on Earth.
That’s 1,000 years older than a 12,000-year-old Palm Springs creosote bush that was previously thought to be the oldest plant in California, 8,000 years older than bristlecone pines, and 10,000 years older than the redwoods, according to a study by UC Davis and UC Riverside scientists.”
Devoid of other members of its species – Quercus palmeri or Palmer’s oak — to pollinate it, it is infertile and grows clonally, with new shoots and root systems that tap rainwater collected in cracks in the rocks beneath the surface.
But this legendary survivor may soon be looking out at tract homes and warehouses, if the city of Jurupa Valley approves a developer’s proposal.
You might think, here in the 23rd year of the 21st century, if development threatens a 13,000 year old tree, we need new concepts of development.
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