Lawmakers and Environmentalists Condemn Trump Administration’s Attempt to Privatize Yosemite for Corporate Profiteers
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Over 150 members of Congress and a broad coalition of environmental groups are demanding that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum reject a scheme to hand over a section of Yosemite National Park to a private developer, denouncing it as a blatant giveaway to corporate interests at the expense of public lands.
Hundreds of advocacy organizations and a bipartisan group of over 150 members of Congress have united to resist the Trump administration’s latest assault on public lands, sending urgent letters to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Tuesday. They are calling for the rejection of a proposal that would strip a quarter-mile of Yosemite National Park and hand it over to Kingsbarn Realty Capital, a private developer. Lawmakers, including California’s progressive senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, as well as representatives Jared Huffman and Jim Costa, have condemned the transaction as a shameless attempt to enrich private interests while offering nothing to the public.
The developers, hiding behind a web of limited-liability companies, control 83 acres bordering the park and are seeking to bulldoze a road for exclusive private access to Yosemite’s heart. The congressional letter exposes that the Department of the Interior has failed to identify any public land for a fair exchange, and that the proposal would misuse funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund—money meant to protect, not auction off, public treasures.
"We are extremely concerned that the Department of the Interior is considering selling off portions of the park to private development, and we strongly oppose the proposed land transfer," the lawmakers wrote.
"This transaction does not seek to expand public access to Yosemite, improve visitor services, or address transportation deficiencies in park access. Rather, it seeks to cut down driving time for a select few on private property," they added.
A coalition of more than 150 advocacy groups, led by the Center for Biological Diversity, echoed these warnings. The coalition underscored Yosemite’s iconic status as a symbol of American conservation and cautioned that surrendering any part of the park would open the floodgates to future privatization of public lands.
"Trump wants to carve off a chunk of Yosemite so a private equity firm can turn it into a playground for billionaires," said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity.
The groups further revealed that Kingsbarn’s CEO Jeff Pori is a Trump campaign donor and that the firm’s legal representation is tied to political insiders—clear evidence of conflicts of interest. They demanded that Burgum honor his previous commitment to defend every inch of the nation’s parks from corporate exploitation.