Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Lou Correa (CA-46) today sent a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and National Park Service Comptroller Jessica Bowron demanding transparency and answers over the Trump Administration’s alleged proposal to parcel off part of Yosemite National Park to a private real estate developer.
“I write in strong opposition to recent reports that the National Park Service (NPS) is working to parcel off part of Yosemite National Park in California to give to a private real-estate developer. Under the alleged proposal, land within Yosemite National Park would be ceded to the developer to construct a road that connects private property to the park,” Correa said.
“I am outraged by this alleged action that threatens Yosemite’s natural resources at the expense of private real-estate developers. Yosemite National Park was created in 1890 and since then our nation has worked together to protect its precious ecosystem and natural wonders, including Half Dome and the giant sequoia trees,” Correa continued. “This agency proposal runs counter to over 135 years of protecting this land in California for both wildlife and the public.”
“The NPS was created in 1916 to protect our precious natural resources and to promote and regulate national parks, monuments, and reservations to “conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations,” Correa concluded. “This proposed land exchange is contrary to the NPS’s 150 years of work to protect our national parks and Congress’s intent when it created the agency.”
Read the full text of the letter HERE.