Updated Aug. 28, 2026, 7:27 p.m. ET
The Trump administration has reportedly been secretly planning to curate a deal to give a small parcel of land inside Yosemite National Park to a private developer, according to NOTUS and the New York Times.
The plan was first revealed by NOTUS, which broke the news on Aug. 28, detailing how the Trump administration has been arranging a land exchange between the National Park Service and a Nevada-based real estate developer, Kingsbarn Realty Capital, which owns a plot of land along the western border of Yosemite National Park.
Notably, NOTUS and the New York Times cite unnamed officials and documents for much of the information in these stories.
As part of the plan, the firm wants to obtain a portion of land from the National Park Service to develop a new road connecting two undeveloped 40-acre parcels owned by Kingsbarn to the main thoroughfare in Yosemite, according to unnamed documents submitted to Congress.
Based on current access roads, travelers would need to travel about an hour and a half along more than 10 miles of roads to reach Yosemite’s entrance from the property, according to NOTUS.
In exchange for this parcel of Yosemite, the developer would purchase land of equivalent value, either near the national park or elsewhere in California, and trade it with the National Park Service, according to The New York Times.
Federal law notes that the Secretary of the Interior may review interest in exchanging federal land for non-federal property, as long as the land will not be used for timberland harvest and the value of the property is “approximately equal.”
However, it is unclear whether the property’s value should be its current market value or its value once it is developed as a new traffic route into the park, which will likely increase its value significantly.
According to NOTUS, the Trump administration has been in talks with Kingsbarn leadership regarding this deal since Spring 2025, and has received “the full weight of the Interior Department’s top political leadership” in support of the proposal.
As a result of the administration’s support, Kingsbarn leadership has been meeting with the National Park Service to discuss a potential land exchange and identify a plot of land the National Park Service would be interested in, according to NOTUS.
Aubrie Spady, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department, provided a statement to the New York Times about the deal.
“Any land exchange or access proposal involving National Park Service lands would be subject to all applicable federal laws, regulations and Departmental policies, including required environmental review and public notification processes,” Spady said.
CA legislators’ reaction to Trump’s plan
Shortly after the news broke, California legislators and political leaders began sharing their frustration and dismay over the Trump administration’s plans to give a parcel of Yosemite to a developer.
California Congressman Jeff Huffman was among the first legislators to speak out against the plan, saying that “our parks belong to all of us,” and vowing to fight the Trump administration regarding its plan for Yosemite.
“These places should be protected for every generation, not sold off to Trump’s ultra-wealthy friends to profit off of,” Huffman said in his post on X.
“I will fight this, both for Yosemite and for every treasured park that would be up for grabs if this domino falls.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta also noted that his office had become aware of the Trump administration’s plan and said that “our national parks belong to the people. They’re not the property of any one administration.”
Noe Padilla is a Northern California Reporter for USA Today. Contact him at npadilla@usatodayco.com, follow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social. Sign up for the TODAY Californian newsletter or follow us on Facebook at TODAY Californian
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