The administration of US President Donald Trump is reportedly considering a proposal that could see a small parcel of land within Yosemite National Park transferred to a private developer in exchange for land elsewhere in California.
According to Notus, National Park Service officials have been examining options that would allow the agency to relinquish a roughly quarter-mile parcel to a company operated by Nevada-based Kingsbarn Realty Capital.
The developer already owns an 83-acre undeveloped property directly outside Yosemite. Kingsbarn acquired the land in 2024, and its chief executive, Jeff Pori, reportedly wants to build a short access road connecting the property to a major route inside the national park.
The existing access road to the company’s property is more than 10 miles from the closest Yosemite entrance, meaning visitors would have to take a longer route to reach the site and other popular areas of the park.
The property’s previous owner had also sought permission to build a private road through the park, lobbying the federal government for years without success.
Notus, citing agency documents and people familiar with the discussions, reported that officials have considered exchanging the Yosemite parcel for land of comparable value elsewhere in California.
The proposal has reportedly generated internal disagreement within the National Park Service, with senior political officials at the Interior Department said to be supportive of the idea.
However, the Interior Department has rejected suggestions that political pressure is driving the discussions.
In a statement to The Guardian, department spokesperson Aubrie Spady said there “has been no political pressure to reach a predetermined outcome”.
She added that “suggesting the Department is secretly working to hand over National Park Service land to a private developer [is] false.”
The reported proposal has nevertheless drawn criticism from environmental groups and advocates for the protection of national parks.
Jayson O’Neill, spokesperson for Save Our Parks, accused Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the Trump administration of pursuing policies that could lead to the privatisation of public lands.
“If mismanaging parks and stealing entrance fees for Trump’s DC vanity projects wasn’t enough, now Americans find out Doug Burgum and his cronies spent a year secretly negotiating to hand a piece of Yosemite national park over to a well-connected developer, all while lying to us about protecting them,” O’Neill said.
“National parks belong to the American people, not monied developers who are part of Trump’s donor class.”
The proposal has also attracted opposition from California lawmakers, including both US senators representing the state and Democratic Congressman Jared Huffman.
Huffman said public parks should remain accessible and protected rather than being developed for private profit.
“Our parks belong to all of us. These places should be protected for every generation, not sold off to Trump’s ultra-wealthy friends to profit off of,” Huffman said.
“I will fight this, both for Yosemite and for every treasured park that would be up for grabs if this domino falls.”
The Interior Department stressed that no final decision has been made on either the proposed land exchange or the access road.
The department said any such arrangement would have to comply with federal laws and regulations, as well as departmental policies, including environmental reviews and public notification requirements.
