Trump withdraws National Park Service boss nomination
By Terry Murry on Wednesday, April 29th, 2026 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Trump administration withdrew its nomination of Scott Socha to serve as director of the National Park Service. No one has been appointed to that position since Chuck Sams of Pendleton served under President Joe Biden.
Political observers in Washington say that Socha drew immediate scrutiny because his background was not in land management, but as a long-time executive at Delaware North Company, a concessionaire.
Socha was part of the company’s leadership team when it trademarked names inside Yosemite National Park and then asked for $51 million from the National Park Service to return them according to the National Park Traveler. That dispute was eventually negotiated down to $12 million.
Meanwhile, in the past year the National Park Service has lost about a quarter of its workforce. With Sams departure, the current acting director is NPS Comptroller Jessica Bowron.
File photo of Chuck Sams
