Protect the 13,000 Year Old Jurupa Oak

The Proposed Rio Vista Specific Plan aims to develop 406.5 acres of natural wildlands in Jurupa Valley which entails surrounding the oldest living plant in California and the third oldest living plant on Earth by "light industrial" development. Under the most recent update to the proposed development construction will take place within 450 feet (originally proposed 200 feet) of the Jurupa Oak which sits atop a small hilltop surrounded by inland sage scrub vegetation in the Jurupa Mountains.  We oppose this project for a number of cultural and biological reasons, but most importantly because the oldest living organism in our State deserves to be respected and preserved in it's natural context to the greatest extent possible, not surrounded by white-topped industrial-manufacturing warehouses and business park. Additional indirect and external impacts have been severely under analyzed in the recently released Final Environmental Impact Report and the studies have not been released to the public, local scholars, scientists, or professionals.

UPDATE October 4th, 2024

On September 5th, 2024 the Jurupa Valley City Council approved the Rio Vista Specific Plan on a Vote of 3:2. The vote breakdown is as follows:

For: Councilmember Altamirano, Councilmember Barajas, Mayor Silva

Against: Councilmember Carmona, Mayor Pro-Tem Berkson

As approved, the project has multiple California Environmental Quality Act Deficiencies and Several General Plan Policy Conflicts which obligated the City Council to reject the project or at least correct the deficiencies and conflicts before approval. 

Following approval, On October 4th 2024, Conservation groups including the Center for Biological Diversity, California Native Plant Society, Endangered Habitats League, and Friends of Riverside's Hills Sued the City for failing to follow California state environmental laws, failure to identify environmental impacts, and failure to analyze potential threats to the Jurupa Oak. Litigation is pending.