In Mendoza, Argentina, centuries-old olive trees are facing an unlikely threat, urban expansion. As former agricultural land is transformed for housing, commercial projects and other developments, many ancient trees are being cut down and sold as firewood. The Cicero family decided that some of them deserved a different fate. Over the past decade, the family has relocated more than 5,000 ancient olive trees, creating the Los Inmigrantes Sanctuary in Maipú. The project began with 3,000 trees growing on a property Emilio Cicero purchased for his almond business. Instead of removing them, he moved them to another part of the land and arranged them in circular formations. What started as an effort to save trees has since become a family mission to preserve Mendoza’s agricultural heritage and give these old trees somewhere to keep growing.
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