WASHINGTON— More than 150 groups today urged the Trump administration to reject a proposed giveaway of Yosemite National Park land to private equity firm Kingsbarn Realty Capital.

The transfer would clear the way for the firm to build a private access road through the national park to its adjacent property and develop a luxury project next to Yosemite.

“Trump wants to carve off a chunk of Yosemite so a private equity firm can turn it into a playground for billionaires,” said Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The federal government should be protecting our national parks, not parceling them out behind closed doors to benefit the wealthy and politically connected. If Yosemite can be chopped apart, no national park in America is safe.”

In a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the groups warned the proposal would set a dangerous precedent, opening the door for private interests to take control of national parks and other public lands for private profit.

Federal officials began exploring ways to transfer the park land to Kingsbarn after determining that the company could not legally purchase it from the National Park Service. The development is near one of Yosemite’s great sequoia groves and would provide privileged access to Yosemite Valley and other iconic areas of the national park.

National parks are America’s most iconic and beloved public lands, legally required to remain unimpaired for future generations. Eight years before Yellowstone became the nation's first national park, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant Act, the first time the federal government set aside land for its scenic value. Since then, Yosemite has been considered the birthplace of American conservation.

Officials at the Department of the Interior and National Park Service have discussed transferring the park land to Kingsbarn for more than a year. Congress received only vague notice earlier this year, and the public learned of the proposal for the first time through recent press reports.

The proposal comes as the National Park Service faces deep staffing and budget cuts, yet agency officials have devoted time and resources to advancing a proposal that would benefit a private developer.

Kingsbarn has deep ties to the administration, and its CEO donated to the Trump campaign and affiliated political action committees.

Today’s letter reminds Burgum of his confirmation hearing pledge to “protect every single inch” of the national parks and calls on him to stop the proposed transfer before a piece of Yosemite is given away forever.