President Donald Trump has nominated Scott Socha, a hospitality executive whose company previously sued to claim trademark rights to the name 'Yosemite National Park', to lead the National Park Service (NPS). The nomination comes at a critical time for the agency, which has seen a quarter of its staff eliminated under the government efficiency drive and has faced efforts to remove references to historical events depicting Americans unfavourably, such as slavery.
Unlike recent NPS directors who typically rose through the agency with conservation or land stewardship backgrounds, Socha has spent 27 years at Buffalo-based Delaware North, a food and hotel management firm providing services in seven national parks. Since 2017, he has overseen park-related enterprises. His appointment requires Senate confirmation.
Conservation groups have criticised the nomination. Jayson O’Neill of Save our Parks stated, 'The private park concessionaire executive has zero experience in public service or conservation. Instead, he’s made a career out of extracting maximum profit from our national parks, not protecting them.'
Delaware North is known for a trademark lawsuit involving Yosemite. After losing a $2bn contract bid to Aramark in 2016, the company claimed intellectual property rights to names including 'Yosemite National Park', leading to temporary renaming of landmarks until a 2019 settlement.
Aaron Weiss of the Center for Western Priorities urged senators to view the nomination with 'utmost skepticism', adding, '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.'
