In the document, obtained by The Hill, the National Park Service (NPS) states that a landowner is seeking to connect their property with a park service road in order to facilitate commercial development.
The agency said it is “working with the landowner on a land exchange that will … enable NPS to convey an interest in land.”
“This will require the landowner to purchase property inside the park or within other NPS units in California,” the document continued.
Separately, responses provided by the Interior Department to a Senate office that were shared with The Hill state that the land swap is a “priority.”
Asked about the proposed land swap, the Interior Department, which oversees NPS, told The Hill that it had not made any final decisions.
“If a proposal advances, the Department will follow established procedures to ensure appropriate coordination, transparency and public involvement consistent with federal law,” it said in a statement.
“There has been no political pressure to reach a predetermined outcome, and claims suggesting the Department is secretly working to hand over National Park Service land to a private developer are false,” the department said.
The proposed land swap was first reported by NOTUS. The news outlet reported that the Trump administration was looking to give the land to a company operated by real-estate developer and investment firm Kingsbarn Realty Capital.
The Hill has attempted to reach Kingsbarn for comment. Lanny Davis told NOTUS that he was an attorney for Kingsbarn and said the company was seeking the land exchange.
“It wasn’t Donald Trump; it was me, liberal Democrat Lanny Davis, former counsel to President Clinton, went to the Department of Interior, and we made the argument that this is a pro-environmental decision to allow this road to be directly built to allow the residents of this privately owned property to gain entrance or exit to the park,” Davis told the news outlet. “The road we’re building is a direct pathway that does not endanger any endangered species, and is simply a road.”
Read more at TheHill.com.
