Opposition mounts as Trump drives on with detested developer deal:  'We will fight this'

Opposition is mounting to a Trump administration plan to hand a strip of land inside Yosemite National Park to a private developer, with conservation groups and Democratic lawmakers calling the effort a betrayal of the park's 150-year legacy.

For more than a year, National Park Service staff have been working, at the direction of Interior Department political leadership, to arrange a land exchange that would give a Nevada-based company tied to real-estate developer Jeff Pori's Kingsbarn Realty Capital an easement or interest in Yosemite land, NOTUS reported, citing four people familiar with the discussions and internal agency documents.

In exchange, the Park Service would receive land of equal value elsewhere in California.

The goal is to let Kingsbarn build a short private road connecting an 83-acre property it owns outside the park's western boundary — marketed as "Sanctuary at Yosemite" — to one of Yosemite's central roads, giving it rare private access near an ancient sequoia grove.

The Park Service has rejected similar proposals for the same property, formerly called Hazel Green Ranch, for more than two decades, including under the Bush, Obama and Biden administrations, and courts twice ruled against the previous owner.

The National Parks Conservation Association said it "strongly opposes" the plan.

"This is an attack on the American people that own this national park," said Mark Rose, the group's Sierra Nevada program manager, adding that a court had already rejected a similar road proposal and calling the current effort unlawful.

California Sen. Adam Schiff agreed, telling NOTUS the administration "appears hellbent on moving forward in the face of opposition from the public, Congress and the courts," and vowing, "We will fight this."

Fellow California Sen. Alex Padilla said funding meant to protect natural areas should not be steered toward "an applicant's connections to high-ranking Trump administration officials."

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-R), ranking member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the relevant conservation fund, formally objected to including the Yosemite project on a list of endorsed projects, according to his office.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told senators during his 2025 confirmation hearing that his department would "support and protect every single inch" of national parks, and Trump issued a statement this August pledging to protect "every acre" of public lands — commitments critics say the Yosemite proposal directly contradicts.

A National Park Service spokesperson told NOTUS "no final decisions have been made," and that any exchange would go through required environmental review and public notice. Kingsbarn did not respond to NOTUS's request for comment.