Trump Administration Weighs Private Road Deal Inside Yosemite

The proposal, currently under review by the Department of the Interior, involves trading a quarter-mile segment of the park to enable developers who own 83 acres of adjacent land to construct a private thoroughfare. Sources within the agency told NOTUS that the directive to accommodate these developers came from senior political leadership, creating what staffers described as an unusually high level of pressure to bypass standard protections.

Mark Rose of the National Parks Conservation Association labeled the potential deal an unlawful assault on public land, noting that a similar proposal was previously struck down by the courts. While the National Park Service maintains that no final decision has been reached, the move has ignited broader concerns about the administration’s strategy toward public lands. Representative Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) vowed to oppose the plan, characterizing it as a blatant attempt to monetize federal treasures for the benefit of political donors. Critics argue this move fits a wider pattern of deregulation, following recent administration efforts to target the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which threatens to open pristine wilderness to industrial development and logging.