Oppose Scott Socha's Nomination as National Park Service Director

I urge you to oppose Scott Socha's nomination as Director of the National Park Service. His 27-year career at Delaware North, a hospitality conglomerate operating concessions in seven national parks, represents a fundamental conflict with the agency's conservation mission established by the 1916 Organic Act to conserve scenery, natural and historic objects, and wildlife while leaving them unimpaired for future generations. Socha currently serves as president of parks and resorts at Delaware North, the company responsible for the Yosemite trademark scandal. Delaware North secretly registered trademarks on historic names inside Yosemite, including the Ahwahnee Hotel, opened in 1927, and the Wawona Hotel, built in 1876. When the company lost its contract in 2015, it demanded $51 million for rights to these public names. Taxpayers ultimately paid $3.84 million of the $12 million settlement in 2019. Socha became president of Delaware North's parks division in March 2017, during this active litigation against the Park Service. Two months later, while his company was suing the agency he would now lead, Socha attended a meeting in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's office arranged by Congressman Chris Collins, who was later convicted of insider trading. This meeting was omitted from Zinke's public calendar. Delaware North’s service in National parks has been substandard. Employee reviews reference substandard housing, food safety violations, and a culture “entirely driven by short-term financial metrics.” In 2012, a hantavirus outbreak in Curry Village tent cabins operated by Delaware North sickened 10 and killed three people after investigators found rodent nests in cabin insulation. Socha has no public service experience and no training in conservation, ecology, or wildlife management. His background is in financial planning and business development, optimizing revenue rather than protecting resources. The National Park Service has already lost 24% of its permanent workforce since 2017, over 4,000 positions including rangers, scientists, and trail crews. Our parks need a director committed to conservation, not commercialization. Please vote against Scott Socha’s nomination.