09/09/2026
I first visited Yosemite in the summer of 1990. I slept under the stars and played in the Merced’s freezing waters with my family. I made core memories that trip that I’ll have with me for the rest of my life.
How many of us have a memory like this? Something that’s only possible because we agreed some land is too beautiful, too precious to belong to one person. It belongs to all of us. Each generation a steward, charged with protecting it so the next can enjoy it too.
That idea is under attack. This year alone: the Roadless Rule is set to be repealed. Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase were slashed by over 90%. The mining ban protecting Boundary Waters was overturned. And border wall construction tore through Big Bend (only paused after lawsuits forced a halt).
And now this: on Aug 28th The Washington Sun reporter Anna Kramer broke the news that the administration is quietly working to hand a piece of Yosemite to a private developer with ties to top Trump officials, so they can build a road connecting planned luxury homes to the inside of the park. Three separate administrations from both parties rejected this exact deal over the last two decades.
The acreage at issue is small. But if you can carve up our most iconic park to make private development more convenient, nothing is sacred anymore and everything is up for grabs.
I’ve sat with this for two weeks, angry. The poet Zack De La Rocha once said that anger is a gift… and I believe it can be if you channel it into something positive.
In my Link in bio is a petition from Save Public Lands: a coalition of hunters, conservationists, anglers, and park lovers. They’re pushing for a million signatures by Public Lands Day, September 26th.
Sign it. Call your reps. Let’s protect this for the next generation too.
📍 Yosemite National Park, California
