Trump administration officials are looking at ways to give a part of Yosemite National Park to a private developer in Nevada, according to multiple media reports.
The news was first reported by NOTUS, which wrote that the federal government has been considering ways to give a “quarter-mile strip of land inside Yosemite” to a company operated by real-estate developer and investment firm Kingsbarn Realty Capital.
Officials proposed the National Park Service give the land, or “interest” in it in the form of an easement, to the company, NOTUS wrote. In exchange, the government would get land valued at an equal amount in California.
“They want us to be responsive to the property owner and their lobbyists or people, and they want us to work with these folks,” one person told NOTUS. Another said the “political pressure being brought to bear is very unusual.”
In 2024, one of the limited-liability companies Kingsbarn owns bought undeveloped land outside Yosemite for $4 million. Records looked at by NOTUS showed Kingsbarn called the property “Sanctuary at Yosemite.”
Lanny Davis, an attorney who represents Kingsbarn, confirmed to The Washington Post that the company wants to build “single-family upscale, private homes” in the property next to Yosemite.
Kingsbarn, Davis said, has been discussing a potential land exchange with the Department of the Interior for over a year. This deal would let residents of the housing development drive 11 miles to the park, as opposed to the 28 miles.
A spokesperson for the National Park Service said in a statement to NOTUS that “no final decisions have been made,” and that any land exchange or access proposals “are subject to all applicable federal laws, regulations, and Departmental policies, including required environmental review and public notification processes.”
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