{"id":3125,"date":"2026-08-28T11:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T11:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=3125"},"modified":"2026-08-28T11:09:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T11:09:29","slug":"trump-is-quietly-working-to-give-part-of-yosemite-to-a-private-developer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=3125","title":{"rendered":"Trump Is Quietly Working to Give Part of Yosemite to a Private Developer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For more than a year, the National Park Service has been quietly working to fulfill an unprecedented directive from Trump officials: Parcel off a corner of Yosemite National Park to give to a private developer.<\/p>

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National Park Service staff in California and Washington, D.C., are trying to arrange a land exchange between a Nevada-based company and the federal government, according to four people directly familiar with discussions, as well as agency documents reviewed by NOTUS.<\/p>\n

Since the spring of 2025, the Trump administration has been looking into ways it could cede a roughly quarter-mile strip of land inside Yosemite to a company that, through a web of limited-liability companies, is operated by real-estate developer and investment firm Kingsbarn Realty Capital. Officials are proposing the Park Service give up the land or \u201cinterest\u201d in the land in the form of an easement, and in return receive land of equal value somewhere in California that has yet to be decided.<\/p>

The private developers own an 83-acre plot of land just outside the western boundaries of Yosemite, about five miles from one of the park\u2019s defining ancient sequoia groves. Jeff Pori, the CEO of Kingsbarn, wants to build a short road connecting the property to one of Yosemite\u2019s central thoroughfares. The new road would give the land exceptionally rare private access to a park that is otherwise almost entirely buffered by national forests.<\/p>\n

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    The property\u2019s current access road is more than 10 miles from an entrance to the park, and much further from Yosemite\u2019s most iconic sights. Without a new road, visitors to the property \u2014 whether it be developed into a hotel, resort or private residence \u2014 would need to drive an hour and a half in a circuitous route to reach the popular Yosemite Valley.<\/p>

    The planning process has created a tense environment inside the National Park Service for the people involved; Kingsbarn\u2019s proposal is backed by the full weight of the Interior Department\u2019s top political leadership, sources said.<\/p>

    \u201cThey want us to be responsive to the property owner and their lobbyists or people, and they want us to work with these folks,\u201d said one person familiar with the conversations.<\/p>

    \u201cThe political pressure being brought to bear is very unusual,\u201d said another person familiar with the conversations and the park\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

    If the deal goes through, the Trump administration would be breaking with 150 years of American precedent at the birthplace of the national park system. The federal government has historically strived to expand the crown-jewel national parks, not give up land within them.<\/p>

    \u201cThe national park idea started in Yosemite with Abraham Lincoln\u2019s preservation of Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias,\u201d said Cicely Muldoon, a 40-year veteran of the Park Service who served as Yosemite\u2019s superintendent for about five years. Muldoon retired from Yosemite shortly after President Donald Trump took office in 2025.<\/p>

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    \u201cOur basic purpose in the national parks is to preserve these places unimpaired for future generations, not letting go of that for the purpose of private profit,\u201d she said.<\/p>

    Interior\u2019s advocacy for the deal is a significant reversal of a pledge Secretary Doug Burgum made in his 2025 confirmation hearing: \u201cThe national parks, absolutely we need to support and protect every single inch of those,\u201d he said<\/u><\/span>.<\/p>

    It also contravenes the presidential message Trump shared on Aug. 24<\/u><\/span> of this year, to announce the beginning of National Park Week: \u201cMy Administration is committed to protecting every acre of our lands and preserving the cleanest air and water in the world.\u201d<\/p>

    And it goes against the agency\u2019s past position on this specific piece of land. The Park Service has received this privatization request before, and it has rejected it repeatedly for over two decades.<\/p>\n

    In a statement to NOTUS, a spokesperson for the National Park Service said \u201cno final decisions have been made,\u201d but that any land exchange or access proposals \u201cwould be subject to all applicable federal laws, regulations, and Departmental policies, including required environmental review and public notification processes.\u201d<\/p>

    \u201cIf a proposal advances, the Department would follow established procedures to ensure appropriate coordination, transparency, and public involvement, consistent with federal law,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>

    Kingsbarn did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>

    A limited-liability company controlled by Kingsbarn purchased the undeveloped land outside Yosemite for $4 million in 2024, calling the property \u201cSanctuary at Yosemite\u201d in records reviewed by NOTUS.<\/p>

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