Donald Trump nominated hospitality executive Scott Socha — whose company once sued Claim trademark rights To name “Yosemite National Park” – to lead the National Park Service.
Nominating an outsider with business ties to the agency he oversees comes at a critical time for the service, A quarter is lost Doge’s civilian sector is under purge of its staff and the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts Remove reference to historical events NPS sites portray Americans in an unfavorable light, such as slavery.
US national parks have historically been overseen by individuals with experience in conservation and land stewardship, with nominees typically emerging from agency ranks over the past three decades.
Socha, by contrast, has spent the past 27 years working for Buffalo-based Delaware North, a food and hotel management company that provides hospitality services in seven national parks and lodging operations in five national park gateway communities. According to the company’s website.
Socha has been overseeing the development of institutions in and near national parks since 2017. His nomination requires Senate confirmation.
“Private Park Concessionaire Executive [Scott] Socha has zero experience in public service or conservation,” Save Our Parks spokesman Jason O’Neill wrote in a statement. “Instead, he has made a career out of extracting maximum profits from our national parks, not protecting them, clearly doing the bidding of special interests and corporate interests.”
Delaware is best known in conservationist circles for trademark litigation involving North Yosemite National Park. After the company lost a $2bn bid to renew its contract to manage Yosemite’s hotels and restaurants with competitor Aramark in 2016, Delaware North sued the company, claiming it owned intellectual property rights to various names used in the park worth more than $50m.
The landmarks were briefly renamed until the lawsuit Fixed in 2019.
“Senators should approach this nomination with the utmost skepticism given Scott Socha’s history and the current state of our national parks,” Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities, wrote in a statement.
“Our public lands belong to all Americans, not concessionaires trying to cash in on the names of our nation’s crown jewels.”
