California's oldest tree, a Palmer's oak thought to be 13,000 to 18,000 years old, may be threatened by a proposed development, environmentalists say.
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. 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.
The oak is of extreme importance to the tribe, and 44 acres of land surrounding it has been designated as a sacred site by the Native American Heritage Commission. 'From the beginning we’ve been opposed to this development,” said Matthew Teutimez, a tribal biologist. “It's not just the oak — we’re concerned about that whole landscape of hill complexes that have been used for ceremonial purposes for thousands of years.
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