Trump’s Quietly Working to Give Part of Yosemite to a Private Developer

Key Points:

• The National Park Service, under the Trump administration, is pursuing a controversial land exchange to give a quarter-mile strip inside Yosemite National Park to a private developer, Kingsbarn Realty Capital, in return for land elsewhere in California.
• The developer aims to build a private road connecting their 83-acre property outside Yosemite to the park’s main roads, providing rare private access to the park, which has historically been protected from such development.
• This proposal breaks with over 150 years of precedent to preserve and expand national parks, and faces strong opposition from former park officials, environmental groups, and California senators who argue it prioritizes private profit over conservation.
• The land exchange process is ongoing, with political pressure on National Park Service staff to expedite the deal, despite legal challenges and past court rulings rejecting similar road development proposals on this land.
• The plan has sparked concerns about transparency and potential conflicts of interest, given the developer’s political donations and connections to Trump administration associates, and is expected to face legal challenges from conservation organizations.