Trump administration pursues national park land deals amid border wall construction

The Trump administration is facing intense scrutiny over its management of public lands, highlighted by a proposed land swap in Yosemite National Park to grant road access to developer Kingsbarn Realty Capital. Simultaneously, the administration is pushing forward with its $46 billion border wall project, sparking legal battles and protests over construction in Big Bend National Park and on sacred Tohono O'odham Nation lands in Arizona. Conservationists warn these moves, alongside staffing cuts and funding diversions, threaten America's environmental legacy.

Yosemite land exchange proposal

• ▪The proposed Yosemite National Park deal would exchange the park parcel for land of equal value elsewhere in California, which Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Kingsbarn Realty Capital, stated is permitted under federal law.
• ▪Previous proposals to build an access road through Yosemite National Park for the same 83-acre parcel were rejected under the administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.
• ▪Kingsbarn Realty Capital proposes building a private access road through Yosemite National Park to connect its 83-acre undeveloped property outside the park to a central park route.
• ▪The U.S. Department of the Interior stated that no final decisions have been made regarding Yosemite National Park and denied that political pressure was applied to reach a predetermined outcome.
• ▪The Trump administration is considering a proposal to transfer a quarter-mile parcel of land inside Yosemite National Park to Nevada-based private developer Kingsbarn Realty Capital.

Big Bend border wall construction

• ▪U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia is considering a request by plaintiffs for a temporary restraining order against the Big Bend National Park border construction project.
• ▪The Big Bend National Park construction pause was originally enacted by Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott following local outrage over bulldozers plowing parts of the park.
• ▪The federal government agreed in court to extend a pause on border-related construction in Big Bend National Park and an area upriver until September 15, 2026.
• ▪The Trump administration's border infrastructure plan is a $46 billion project to cover the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border with 30-foot steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers, and detection technology.

Tohono O'odham Nation opposition

• ▪Texas-based construction firm SLSCO Ltd. has secured over $390 million in funding from the Department of Homeland Security since 2023 to build the border wall section in Arizona.
• ▪U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled in favor of the federal government, allowing construction because the border wall segment is located on the federally owned Roosevelt Reservation buffer zone.
• ▪The Tohono O'odham Nation argued that contractors illegally crossed tribal land to access the construction sites, using armed Customs and Border Protection agents to block tribal police.
• ▪The Trump administration began border wall construction in southern Arizona along the Tohono O'odham Nation reservation despite protests and accusations of trespassing from the tribe.

National park political pressures

• ▪The National Park Service has experienced a 25 percent reduction in staff, totaling more than 4,000 roles, over a year-and-a-half period under the Trump administration.
• ▪The National Park Service is assessing a proposal for a 250-foot triumphal arch named after President Donald Trump to be built as a gateway to Arlington National Cemetery.
• ▪The National Parks Conservation Association reported that the Trump administration is diverting $90 million in national park visitor fees to fund presidential projects in Washington, D.C.

Public lands conservation rollbacks

• ▪The Trump administration has pursued multiple rollbacks of public land protections, including slashing two Utah national monuments by over 90 percent in July 2026.
• ▪The Trump administration moved to end the roadless rule, which has protected 45 million acres of national forests from road construction and logging for over 25 years.