As wildfires and floods batter national parks, a developer says it’s negotiating for a piece of Yosemite

The National Parks in the past year have been through a reckoning. The Grand Canyon has seen ravaging floods in the past week, sparking search and rescue missions and damaging nearly 40% of its sole water pipeline. The national park also saw wildfires on its northern edge in 2025, making the floods the second natural disaster to hit the park in the past year. 

But the Grand Canyon isn’t the only national park weathering the elements. Yosemite National Park is battling wildfires and shutting down Highway 140 as a result. Now, the park is on its way to lose even more land, but this time it’s not due to mother nature. According to reports from CNN and NOTUS, the transferring of about 700 feet of the park is reportedly being discussed between the National Park Service and the private developer Kingsbarn Realty Capital in order for the developer to build a road to a parcel of land abutting the national park. In a statement to Fortune, the Department of Interior, which includes the National Park Service, said there has been “no political pressure to reach a predetermined outcome” and that “no final decisions have been made.”

“Any land exchange or access proposal involving National Park Service........

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