Yosemite land deal considered by Trump administration

President Donald Trump's administration has been considering a proposal to transfer a roughly quarter-mile strip of Yosemite National Park in California to a private developer, NOTUS reported Friday.

NOTUS said the government had spent more than a year looking for ways to move the land to a company operated through other companies by Nevada-based Kingsbarn Realty Capital. The outlet said a Kingsbarn-controlled limited liability company bought an 83-acre plot outside the park in 2024 and that Kingsbarn CEO Jeff Pori wants a road from the property to a Yosemite thoroughfare.

In exchange, the National Park Service would receive land of equal value elsewhere in California that has not yet been determined.

The Interior Department told AFP that any land exchange or access proposal involving National Park Service land would be subject to federal law, environmental review and public notification. It said no final decisions had been made.

Kingsbarn Realty Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The National Parks Conservation Association called the proposal an unlawful attack, and Mark Rose, its senior Sierra Nevada program manager, described it as a secretive deal aimed at Yosemite.

A previous proposal for a road through Yosemite, involving the same outside parcel under a different owner, was rejected by the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Courts also rejected appeals by that owner, Lewis Geyser.