The nomination has been officially withdrawn.
Scott Socha's nomination to lead the National Park Service is dead. His company sued the Park Service for $51 million. He had zero conservation experience. You made your voices heard. The parks won.
His company held the names of America's most beloved places hostage for three years. He was nominated to lead the agency they sued. He never made it.
They even trademarked
“Yosemite National Park”
Delaware North trademarked the name of a national park and slapped it on merchandise. That's the company whose president would run the Park Service. Source
Taxpayers footed $3.84 million to buy back names that predated Delaware North by decades. KQED · NPS.gov
Delaware North is a $4 billion hospitality empire spanning casinos, stadiums, airports, and national parks on three continents. Socha's job since 1999 has been to grow their cut. More hotels near park gates. More tours. More retail. More revenue extracted from public land. His company's CEO was placed on Zinke's advisory committee that pushed to privatize park services. If confirmed, the fox doesn't just guard the henhouse. He owns it.
The agenda: getting Delaware North's CEO onto Zinke's recreation advisory committee, which would push park privatization. It worked.
The outcome: Zinke placed Delaware North's CEO on the advisory committee. The committee pushed privatization. In 2019, the lawsuit settled. Taxpayers paid $3.84 million.
Delaware North operates concessions, retail, lodging, and tours across the park system. Socha would oversee the agency that awards those contracts.
The NPS has lost 24% of its permanent workforce since January 2025. Socha's own company laid off 517 workers during the pandemic while its billionaire owners kept the Boston Bruins. He would have inherited an agency in crisis with a track record of cutting people to protect profit. That threat has been removed.
Scott Socha's nomination to lead the National Park Service has been officially withdrawn. He never got a hearing. He never got a vote. The pressure from people like you made sure of that. This is what happens when Americans stand up for their public lands.
Socha is gone, but public lands still face threats from every side. Get updates on what comes next and what you can do about it.
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People showed up. The nomination was withdrawn. Let everyone know what's possible when Americans fight for their public lands.
They always have. And today, that still holds.