Trump Administration Pushes Corporate Land Grab in Yosemite for Private Developer
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The Interior Department, under the Trump administration, is considering handing over a crucial piece of Yosemite National Park to a Nevada developer, raising alarms about the privatization of public lands and the erosion of environmental protections.
The U.S. Interior Department, acting under the Trump administration’s pro-corporate agenda, is reportedly reviewing a plan to transfer a 0.25-mile parcel of land within the treasured Yosemite National Park to Kingsbarn Realty Capital, a Nevada-based developer with deep pockets. National Park Service staff, caught between their duty to protect public lands and political pressure from above, have been forced to examine how the agency could facilitate this controversial exchange, according to documents and unnamed sources cited by a news outlet.
Kingsbarn, a private corporation, already owns an 83-acre tract adjacent to the park, which it acquired in 2024, furthering the trend of wealthy interests encroaching on protected spaces. The company’s CEO, Jeff Pori, has made clear his intention to construct a private access road that would cut through public land, reducing a 10-mile detour and prioritizing corporate convenience over environmental stewardship.
Officials from the Interior Department, emboldened by senior political leaders who favor privatization, have reportedly suggested exchanging the park land for another parcel elsewhere in California. This move has sparked internal conflict within the National Park Service, whose mission is to safeguard these lands for the people, not for profit.
In response to mounting criticism, an Interior Department spokesperson claimed there has been no political pressure and denied that the agency is secretly working to hand over park land to private developers. However, environmental groups and elected officials see through these denials. A spokesperson for Save Our Parks condemned the plan as part of a broader assault on public lands, while California’s congressional delegation has united in opposition, insisting that national parks must be preserved for future generations, not sold off to the highest bidder.
The department maintains that no final decision has been made and that any land exchange or access proposal would be subject to federal laws, regulations, environmental review, and public notification. Yet, the threat of privatization and the undermining of public trust in the stewardship of national treasures like Yosemite remains ever-present under the Trump administration.