Trump administration considering trading Yosemite land to private developer
The Trump administration is reportedly considering a land trade involving a parcel of Yosemite National Park to facilitate a private developer's road project. Congressional Democrats are actively opposing the deal, citing concerns over the protection of public wilderness.
Why it matters
The potential privatization or development of protected federal land raises significant questions about environmental conservation and executive authority.
The Trump administration is considering trading a parcel of Yosemite National Park to a private commercial developer, according to administration officials, members of Congress and documents reviewed by The Times. The proposed deal would allow the developer to build a road connecting adjacent property it already owns in the Stanislaus National Forest to a service road within Yosemite, providing any future development on that property with unique access to the famed public wilderness, documents show. According to a Friday report by the news outlet NOTUS, Trump administration officials have been quietly pressuring the National Park Service to approve the deal for the land despite such pressure being highly unusual and previous proposals for the land being repeatedly denied under the George W. Bush and Obama administrations and in court.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in