National Park Service negotiating land exchange that could give private developer access to Yosemite
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The U.S. National Park Service is reviewing a proposal to swap a quarter-mile parcel inside Yosemite National Park for land elsewhere, a move backed by the Interior Department but opposed by park officials and several senators.
The National Park Service is in talks with a Nevada-based real-estate firm, Kingsbarn Realty Capital, to exchange a roughly quarter-mile strip of land inside Yosemite National Park for an equivalent parcel elsewhere in California. The proposal, which has been under internal discussion since spring 2025, would give the developer private road access to the park and could enable future hotel, resort or residential development.
Kingsbarn’s CEO, Jeff Pori, seeks to build a short road linking the company’s 83-acre property, located about five miles from the park’s sequoia groves, to a central Yosemite thoroughfare. The agency says any exchange would be subject to federal laws, environmental review and public notification, and that no final decision has been made.
Park staff have described intense political pressure to advance the deal, noting that it departs from the historic practice of expanding, rather than reducing, national-park lands. Former Yosemite superintendent Cicely Muldoon said the agency’s core purpose is to preserve parks “unimpaired for future generations.”
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who previously pledged to protect every inch of national parks, is now supporting the exchange, a shift from earlier administrations that rejected similar requests. Senators Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Merkley, Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff have publicly opposed the plan, arguing it conflicts with the Land and Water Conservation Fund’s mission and could set a precedent for private development within protected areas.
The exchange would require an appraisal of the Yosemite parcel and identification of comparable land for the swap, a process officials describe as complex. Critics, including the National Parks Conservation Association, warn the deal could face legal challenges and argue it undermines longstanding conservation policy.