Conservation Groups Protest Proposal to Swap Out Land in Yosemite

By Suzanne Potter

Sep 16, 2026

California lawmakers are leading the charge against a proposed land swap to allow a road to be built in Yosemite National Park, connecting it with a planned development just over the park border.

More than 150 lawmakers, including Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., just wrote to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, arguing national parks should not be carved up for private interests.

Lanny Davis, an attorney for the developer Kingsbarn Realty Capital, said he is negotiating with park officials to build a road through a few acres in the park to connect the developer’s property with Highway 120.

David Willms, associate vice president of public lands for the National Wildlife Federation, said the acreage is not the point.

“It’s the precedent that it sets to say that this is OK and it’s something we would consider doing in other parks around the country,” Willms contended. “Who knows if the next proposal would be larger or not?”

The developer has not released specific plans but has considered building a lodge and cabins in the past. Davis claimed in a statement the road would reduce air pollution because the shortcut would reduce the time vehicles take to reach the development. A similar proposal was rejected during several prior administrations. A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior told The New York Times no decision has been made.

Howard Penn, executive director of the environmental policy and advocacy group the Planning and Conservation League, said the Department of the Interior should not have the final say.

“Since Congress was the entity that created the national parks, seems like they should have that approval and it should just not be the executive branch deciding when and how they can swap land with a national park,” Penn emphasize.

The developer has not specified which land it proposes to give to the national park system in exchange. It could be near Yosemite or hundreds of miles away, as long as it is deemed environmentally sensitive land of equal value.

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