A sliver of meadow and trees on the edge of Yosemite National Park has become an unlikely battleground over whether development is allowed in national parks.
The National Park Service recently signed a preliminary agreement for a land swap with a Las Vegas developer. Under the arrangement, the federal government would give about an acre on the western boundary of Yosemite National Park's nearly 750,000-acre expanse, nestled in California's Sierra Nevada.
That would allow developer Jeff Pori to build a short road into the park from his adjacent property. Without it, he said, guests at the rustic resort Pori is planning would have to drive about 45 minutes along winding dirt roads to reach the park's main entrance.
In exchange, Pori agreed to transfer to the National Park Service a similarly valued piece of property located elsewhere in California.
He said his project would add needed lodging to the popular park, allowing more people to enjoy it.
"I remember a lot of hiking and a lot of streams and rivers around there," said Pori, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and camped in Yosemite with friends and family as a child. "It's just like heaven, really."
News of the proposed land exchange set off a fury among conservationists, former Yosemite officials and many members of the public. Cicely Muldoon, a former superintendent of Yosemite, said the swap would set a dangerous precedent by signaling that protected natural spaces can be bartered away to private interests.
"It's not a piece of land that you use for real-estate transactions," Muldoon said.
Pori's attorney Lanny Davis said he has received so many threatening notes that he hit his iPhone's limit for blocking email addresses.
The blowback shows how fiercely protective Americans are of their national parks -- particularly the "crown jewels" such as Yosemite, best known for its dramatic waterfalls -- and how some consider any move toward private development to be crossing a line.
The Trump administration has a different view. It has been willing to consider opening up protected federal land to private developers and businesses. Most recently, Trump administration officials considered a request from Major League Baseball to host a game at a national park, possibly Grand Teton in Wyoming. In a letter to local officials sent earlier this month, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the league won't pursue the idea due to opposition from the local community.
Last year, the administration formed a task force to identify federal land that could be used to build affordable housing in an effort to address the nation's housing shortage.
Federal agencies are also pursuing proposed land exchanges with private landowners. In Texas, a federal judge recently allowed a proposed land swap between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Elon Musk's SpaceX to proceed.
In Georgia, the National Park Service has signed preliminary agreements to give federal land to two private landowners on Cumberland Island, a federally protected barrier island wilderness, in exchange for privately owned parcels in ecologically sensitive areas.
Some land exchanges involving national parks have happened over the years, including an agreement with a public utility in the Everglades and a swap that allowed the island of St. John to build a public school on a parcel of the Virgin Islands National Park.
But conservationists say that land exchanges have historically been used only to expand the boundaries of federal parkland.
"Now they're using that same authority to break off pieces of the park to benefit a private developer," said Ed Stierli, vice president of government affairs for the nonpartisan advocacy group National Parks Conservation Association.
In 2024, Pori purchased 83 acres just outside the boundary of Yosemite. The property, known as Hazel Green Ranch, is an undeveloped parcel of meadowland. The famous naturalist John Muir wrote about visiting the "charming spot" during his excursion through the Sierra in the summer of 1869.
Pori, through his real-estate firm Kingsbarn Realty Capital, wants to build something similar to what Hazel Green Ranch's former owner had proposed: a 150-room lodge and cabins scattered around the meadow's perimeter.
But for the business to work, he needs to build a 700-foot-long road across federal land connecting his property to the Big Oak Flat Road leading into Yosemite.
Pori knew getting approval would be an uphill battle. He is friends and business partners with Russell Geyser, the son of Hazel Green Ranch's previous owner, Lewis Geyser, who previously lost a five-year legal battle over the issue.
Pori said he first asked Yosemite officials two years ago for an easement that would allow him to build his proposed road and was told "no." He and Davis then met last year with officials from the Interior Department, who offered a possible solution: a land exchange.
Critics have pointed to Pori's political contributions, which total $4,700, to Republican campaigns and candidates, including Trump, as evidence that his request may have received special consideration.
The Interior Department's press office said there was no political pressure to reach a predetermined outcome on the exchange, which is still far from finalized. Pori and Davis said they never sought political favors.
"We went through the system as it's designed to be used," Davis said. "Checked the boxes to get it done legally."
Even if the land exchange moves forward, Pori faces a long process before he can get approval for his proposed development.
"I bought this with absolutely no guarantee," he said. "I knew that going in."
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