Trump Administration Urged to Halt Yosemite Land Transfer to Private Developer – The Coalition To Protect America's National Parks

September 15, 2026

The Honorable Doug Burgum
Secretary of the Interior
U.S. Department of the Interior
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Re: Reject the Transfer of Yosemite National Park Land to Kingsbarn Realty Capital

Dear Secretary Burgum,

On behalf of our more than 150 organizations and millions of members and supporters, we urge you to halt the proposed transfer of Yosemite National Park land to a subsidiary of private equity firm Kingsbarn Realty Capital. The transfer would carve out a private access road from the park, paving the way for Kingsbarn to build a luxury development on adjacent lands. Ceding national park land to a developer sets a dangerous precedent: America’s parks are for sale to whomever has the money and power to take them.

Yosemite National Park is sacrosanct — the cradle of American conservation, and the first land the federal government protected purely for its scenic value.¹ In 1864, amid the Civil War, President Lincoln signed the Yosemite Valley Grant Act, reserving the valley for public use and declaring it “inalienable for all time.”² Trading away part of that legacy to benefit a handful of wealthy, politically connected people would be an insult and a betrayal of the American public.

The deal’s proponents know how unpopular it is. Previous iterations of this land grab have been rejected by past administrations and courts, which is likely why this attempt has been pursued quietly — only recently surfacing in press reports.³ The Interior Department has been in conversation with Kingsbarn since 2024, yet Congress was only briefed this year, with minimal detail — reportedly to help clear the way for the cynical use of Land and Water Conservation Fund money to facilitate the trade.⁴

In your confirmation hearing, you said “we need to support and protect every single inch” of our national parks.⁵ Yosemite is invaluable and no portion of it should end up on Kingsbarn’s ledger. We expect you to keep your promise and to abide by your statements to Congress.

Giving away a piece of Yosemite would be a windfall to Kingsbarn, while the public has nothing to gain. It is absurd that this has been made priority by the Interior Department and National Park Service⁶ — consuming staff time amid deep personnel cuts⁷ and strained budgets.⁸ Kingsbarn CEO Jeff Pori is a donor to Trump’s campaign and affiliated PACs,⁹ and the firm is represented by politically connected lawyer Lanny Davis.¹⁰ Deals like this undercut the public’s faith in government. We urge you to reverse course and put the public interest and sanctity of our crown jewel national parks ahead of private interest by stopping this proposal.

If Yosemite can be traded away, no national park or public land is safe. These lands have always belonged to, and united, the American people. We will not let them be carved up for private gain.

Sincerely,

Signatory Organizations

Center for Biological Diversity
1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations
350 Deschutes
350 Eugene
350 Seattle
7th Generation Advisors
Active San Gabriel Valley
Advocates for Snake Preservation
Alpine Lakes Protection Society
Amazon Watch
American River Conservancy
Animal Legal Defense Fund
Antelope Valley Conservancy
Arizona Mining Reform Coalition (AMRC)
Arkansas Valley Audubon Society
Asian Pacific Islander Forward Movement
Audubon Colorado Council
BARK
Battle Creek Alliance
Berkeley Partners for Parks
Bird Conservation Network
Bold Visions Conservation
California Chaparral Institute
California Environmental Justice Coalition
California Environmental Voters
California Land Watch
California Native Plant Society
Californians for Western Wilderness
Cascadia Climate Action Now
Cascadia Wildlands
Center for a Sustainable Coast
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
Central Valley Partnership
Christians Caring for Creation
Citizens Campaign for the Environment
Climate Positive Consulting
Climate Relations LLC
Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks
Community Governance Partnership
Consejo de Federaciones Mexicanas en Norte America (COFEM)
Conservation Congress
CORALations Inc.
Cutthroat, a Journal of the Arts
Duct Tape Then Beer
Earth Neighborhood Productions
Endangered Habitats League
Environmental Investigation Agency
Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC)
Feather River Trout Unlimited
Flycasters Conservation and Education Foundation, Inc.
Foundation Earth
Friends of Nevada Wilderness
Friends of Plumas Wilderness
Friends of the Amargosa Basin
Friends of the Bitterroot
Friends of the Clearwater
Friends of the Inyo
Friends of the West Shore (of Lake Tahoe)
Gallatin Wildlife Association
GARDEN, Inc.
Glynn Environmental Coalition
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice
GreenFaith
GreenLatinos
Greenpeace USA
Hands Across the Sand
Hawk Migration Association
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
Idaho Conservation League
In Defense of Animals
Inland Empire Waterkeeper
International Rivers
Intheshadowofthewolf
John Muir Project
Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center
La Purisima Audubon Society
Latino Outdoors
Legacy Forest Defense Coalition
Los Padres ForestWatch
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
Montana Conservation Voters
Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center
Mountain Area Preservation
Nature for All
NC League of Conservation Voters
NC WARN
Nevada Conservation League
New Mexico Wild
Next 100 Coalition
Northwest Environmental Advocates
Oasis Earth
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
Orange County Coastkeeper
Oregon Environmental Council
Oregon Wild
Outward Bound Adventures
Pacific Crest Trail Association
Patagonia
People and Carnivores
Progressive Democrats of America, Oregon Chapter
Public Citizen
Public Lands Conservancy
Public Lands Project
Rainforest Relief
Raptors Are The Solution
Residents for a Livable Moreno Valley
Restore Hetch Hetchy
RESTORE: The North Woods
Russian Riverkeeper
San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society
San Jose Flycasters
Save Our Parks
Save Our Sky Blue Waters
SAVE THE FROGS!
Sequoia ForestKeeper
Sequoia Riverlands Trust
Seven Generations Ahead
Shawnee Natural Area Guardians
Sierra Club
Sierra Foothills Audubon Society
Sierra Nevada Alliance
SoCal 350 Climate Action
Social Compassion in Legislation
Soda Mountain Wilderness Council
South Florida Audubon Society
South Umpqua Rural Community Partnership
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
Standing Trees
Swan View Coalition, Inc.
The Center for Responsible Forestry
The Community Church of New York UU
The Habitat Institute
The Interfaith Council for the Protection of Animals and Nature
The Sugar Pine Foundation
Thurston Climate Action Team Tree Action Group
Tompkins Conservation
Tree Action Seattle
Tri-Valley CAREs
Tuleyome
Unite for Parks
Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition
Virginia Organizing
Wasatch Clean Air Coalition
Washington Wild
West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs
Wild Hope
Wild Montana
Wild Wind
WildEarth Guardians
Wilderness Southeast (WiSE)
Wildlands Network
Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation
Yellowstone to Uintas Connection
Yosemite Rivers Alliance

References