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Friend, from the canyon floor, Zion National Park
feels timeless.

Sheer red rock walls rise thousands of feet overhead. Cottonwoods line
the Virgin River. Trails wind through landscapes that feel permanent.

At first glance, Zion seems whole and fully protected for
generations--but it's not. 

Near one of Zion's volcanic cones sits a sprawling yellow mansion
beyond a gated driveway, a private home where most people assume only
protected parkland exists.

 It raises a troubling question: How could a mansion exist inside a
national park?

The answer reveals a hidden truth about Zion, and about national parks
across the country.

Across 433 National Park Service sites, approximately 15,000 privately
owned parcels, known as inholdings, are located within park
boundaries. Together, they total 2.5 million acres--nearly the
size of Connecticut.

These inholdings limit visitor access, fragment wildlife habitat,
complicate wildfire management, and leave parks exposed to development
that doesn't belong.

That home was recently built on private land that has been in the same
family for generations, dating back to before Zion was established in
1919. It's just one structure, but it serves as a striking reminder
that even our most iconic landscapes remain vulnerable.

Our new report reveals, for the first time, just how widespread this
problem is--and what can be done to fix it.

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Because if one yellow mansion can rise inside Zion, imagine what could
happen elsewhere: resorts on canyon rims, oil rigs beside trailheads,
or fences cutting through wildlife corridors.

In too many places across the country, that imagined future is already
here.

 But Zion also shows us that a better outcome is possible. Every time
we protect an inholding, we fill one more gap in our national parks.

 In 2024, we worked with partners to purchase a 48-acre inholding
inside Zion from the Lowe family--longtime cattle ranchers who no
longer used the land and wanted it to remain undeveloped. With funding
from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the property was transferred to the National Park Service and permanently protected.

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That's the power of LWCF.

Since 1964, LWCF has made it possible to protect the missing pieces of
our national parks--turning once--fragmented landscapes into
places where people can explore and wildlife can thrive without
encountering barriers.

Discover Where LWCF Is Making a Difference
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But LWCF's future--and the future of countless unprotected acres
inside our parks--depends on Congress. The choices made in the
months ahead will determine whether these landscapes are safeguarded
or gradually lost.

You can help protect the missing pieces of our national parks. Call on
Congress to preserve the Land and Water Conservation Fund and prevent
these landscapes from being lost forever.

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 Thanks for standing with us, 

Your friends at Trust for Public Land 

How important is it to you to make our national parks
whole? 

Very important

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Somewhat important

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Not important

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DONATE

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Connecting everyone to the outdoors. We create parks and protect
public land where they're needed most so that everyone will have
access to the benefits and joys of the outdoors for generations to
come.

This email was sent by Trust for Public Land to [email protected].

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