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Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir in Yosemite, 1903. More than 120 years later, the federal government is considering transferring part of Yosemite to a private developer—a striking contrast to the conservation legacy they helped shape. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt asked naturalist John Muir to take him into Yosemite so he could “drop politics absolutely” and experience the wilderness firsthand. They camped beneath giant sequoias, traveled through the mountains, and awoke after a snowstorm as Muir made his case for protecting America’s rapidly disappearing wild places. Three years later, Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove came under federal control and were incorporated into Yosemite National Park. During his presidency, Roosevelt ultimately protected roughly 230 million acres of public land. More than 120 years later, the federal government is considering a land exchange that would transfer a strip of Yosemite National Park to a private developer seeking road access to property outside the park. No final decision has been made.