FRESNO, Calif. – A piece of land in Yosemite National Park could be sold to a private developer, a new report by the news website NOTUS revealed on Friday.
The New York Times also reported it reviewed documents and spoke to federal officials about the proposal, which has not been finalized.
The idea has alarmed conservation groups. The plan includes selling a small parcel to a Las Vegas-based company Kingsbarn Realty Capital which would develop a road on the property and build on 40-acre parcels.
NOTUS reported that an attorney for the company, Lanny Davis, confirmed the company was pursuing the land deal with the federal government. Davis called it a “pro-environmental decision” in his statement to the news website.
The plan, if approved, would allow for a road to connect the company’s existing property to one of the park’s main roads. The property adjacent to the park was purchased in 2024 through a corporation called “Sanctuary at Yosemite,” according to NOTUS and the New York Times.
Yosemite is the “crown jewel” of the national park system. Park experts say the move to sell a piece of it would break a long precedent of protecting and even expanding national parks.
Don Neubacher, a former supervisor at Yosemite, told the Times the plan for development inside the park was “so ridiculous, it makes you sick.” He said the plan had been raised before, but was rejected.
The latest land deal appears to be separate from another plan where a mysterious housing developer was looking to build over 100 new homes on private land near the edge of Yosemite.
The company — Camp Yosemite LLC — was registered to an address in Orange County, and did not appear to have any formal connection to the proposed site, according to a San Francisco Chronicle reporter who spoke with Central Valley Daily in March.
The new development would similarly require potential residents to travel through the national park to get home.
In recent months, the park has faced pressure from conservation groups after it got rid of its reservation system. The concerns included that the move would lead to overcrowding and heavy traffic. The proposed developments raised similar fears.
Beth Pratt, a longtime conservation leader who lives on the edge of the park, told Central Valley Daily earlier this year the park has tried to set limits on capacity since the 1980s.
Park officials recently said they surveyed residents who visited during the peak tourism months this summer. Their survey, also released Friday, found 91% of visitors experienced “no entrance delay or waited less than 15 minutes.”
