A plan being considered by the Trump administration to allow a developer to use a portion of Yosemite National Park land is facing strong opposition from elected officials and conservationists, reflecting broader concerns about privatizing some of the country’s most cherished landmarks.
The National Park Service is considering a land exchange between a private Nevada-based developer and the park. The exchange would enable the firm to build a road that would allow easier access to a 83-acre plot of land where it plans to develop a small village of homes and retail property, according to documents and the developer’s attorney.
It’s a 25-mile drive along public roads to the plot, which is adjacent to the park, according to developer Kingsbarn Realty Capital’s lawyer, Lanny Davis. The developer aims to construct a much shorter access road that would cut through what’s now park land, Davis added.
The proposal is a workaround for NPS, which conceded in a budget proposal to Congress for this fiscal year that it does not have the legal authority to simply grant the land to Kingsbarn.
The Department of Interior, which includes the National Park Service, said there has been “no political pressure to reach a predetermined outcome” and that no final decisions have been made.
