Yosemite National Park belongs to the people. It should not be carved up to benefit a private developer. The National Park Service is working on a new proposal to give up a quarter-mile strip of land inside Yosemite National Park in exchange for property elsewhere in California. What's the goal? To provide a private developer with a new road and direct access from his 83-acre planned real estate development abutting the park to one of Yosemite’s central roads. This proposal deserves the public’s attention. The property is owned by Kingsbarn Realty Capitol, whose CEO wants to build a road connecting the private property to Yosemite. Previous efforts to establish this private access were rejected, including in federal court. The National Park Service has repeatedly refused similar requests for more than two decades. Our National Parks should not be carved up for private profit. National Parks were established in this country to protect America’s most interesting and iconic places for everyone to access, not to provide special access or development opportunities for private interests. Your action is especially timely because the Park Service has acknowledged that no final decision has been made, meaning there is still an opportunity for public scrutiny and opposition. Any eventual land exchange should be subject to federal laws, environmental review, and public notification requirements. Tell the National Park Service: Keep Yosemite public We can’t allow a national park to be reshaped around the interests of a private developer. Yosemite is a national treasure. Its lands, wildlife, cultural resources, and landscapes belong to the American people, and they should remain protected for generations to come. We have seen this kind of proposal before, and the public and the courts rejected it. We must make sure it does not come back through the back door. Yosemite is worth protecting. Speak up and keep it public. TAKE ACTION: Tell Interior Secretary Burgum to Keep Yosemite Public! Here’s How: Call your elected officials. Here is a sample script: “Hi, my name is [NAME] and I'm a constituent from [CITY/ZIP]. I'm calling to urge [Representative/Senator NAME] to publicly oppose the National Park Service's proposed land exchange inside Yosemite National Park, which would give a billionaire private developer, Kingsbarn Realty Capital, new road access through park land. I'm also asking [him/her/them] to call on Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to reject any further privatization or sell-off of our public lands. Yosemite belongs to the public, not private developers. Thank you.” Send a letter or email. You can use this template: Dear [Representative/Senator NAME], I’m writing as your constituent to urge you to oppose the National Park Service’s proposed land exchange inside Yosemite National Park. This proposal would trade a strip of park land to provide Kingsbarn Realty Capital, a billionaire private developer, with new road access from an 83-acre private property to one of Yosemite’s central roads. This is not the first attempt to establish this private access – previous efforts were rejected, including in federal court, and the Park Service has denied similar requests for more than two decades. Our public lands exist to serve the public, not to create development opportunities for billionaires. I ask that you publicly oppose this proposal and call on Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to keep Yosemite, and all our national parks, fully public and protected for future generations. Thank you for representing our community on this issue. Sincerely, [NAME] [ADDRESS/ZIP] Not sure who represents you? Find your U.S. Representative and Senators here .

Our wildest areas are under threat. In June, the Administration moved to weaken protections for our wildest public lands - those designated as wilderness, Wilderness Study Areas, Lands with Wilderness Characteristics, and recommended Wilderness. What do these areas represent? Millions of acres of untrammeled backcountry. The Department of the Interior, US Forest Service and National Park Service initiated the first step in unraveling these protections. They’ve called for a “review” of eight policies, opening the door to weaken protections and paving the way for short-term extractive industries, commercial development, and resource fragmentation at the expense of long-term conservation management of some of our wildest remaining public lands. Nearly 200 million acres of wildlands across the west could be impacted by this review, including approximately 120 million acres of Wilderness Study Areas and wilderness quality lands, and 75 million acres of designated wilderness areas. This includes the nearly 94,000 acres in Cache Creek, Cedar Roughs and Snow Mountain Wilderness areas in Berryessa Snow Mountain Nation Monument right here in our own region. These policies guide how federal agencies identify, manage, and steward designated Wilderness Areas, Wilderness Study Areas, and lands with wilderness characteristics. Together, they influence the management of millions of acres of federal public lands and translate statutory requirements into day-to-day management decisions. Continuing to protect wilderness qualities is consistent with protecting recreation. In many cases, wilderness-quality land provides the best opportunities for backcountry recreation; a CA outdoor industry responsible for 545,448 direct jobs valued at $38.1 billion. The total value-added worth of CA outdoor recreation is $81.5 billion, 2.2% of our gross domestic product. The Department of the Interior’s actions present a false choice between stewarding wilderness lands and providing opportunities for recreation. Let’s tell the Administration that we oppose these rollbacks and are committed to protecting our wild places. Sign on to the Wi lderness Review- National Sign-on Letter opposing five different actions across the three agencies by August 12th. Together, we can show this administration that we care about protecting these special places today and into the future. Sandra Schubert Executive Director