UNITED STATES — President Donald Trump has nominated a hospitality executive and national park concessionaire to be the next director of the National Park Service (NPS).
On Wednesday, the White House released a list of presidential nominations that had been sent to the Senate, which included the nomination of Scott Socha to lead the agency that oversees 433 different historical parks, national monuments, national parks and more. According to Hospitality Net, a travel and tourism industry website, Socha is a 25-year veteran with Delaware North — a multinational food service and hospitality company out of Buffalo, New York. The company provides hospitality services in at least six national parks, including Yellowstone National Park, per the Associated Press. It also owns and operates lodging in five national park gateway communities.
Other news outlets have noted that the position of NPS director has traditionally been held by people with conservation or public land management experience or by someone from within the agency. The Center for Western Priorities Deputy Director Aaron Weiss said in a statement that Socha was involved in “park privatization efforts” during Trump’s first presidential term.
“Senators must approach this nomination with the utmost skepticism given Scott Socha’s history and the current state of our national parks,” Weiss said via news release. “Our public lands belong to all Americans, not the concessionaires who try to trademark and cash in on the names of our nation’s crown jewels.”
In 2015, after losing out on a contract bid to continue as the Yosemite Concession Services provider in Yosemite National Park, Delaware North sued the NPS over the transfer of trademarks, according to Sierra News. The lawsuit was settled in 2019 for $12 million.
