Delaware North executive is tapped to lead park service

A hospitality executive has been nominated to run the National Park Service.

And one who is a familiar name to people around Yosemite National Park

Scott Socha, president of the parks and resorts and Australia branches of Delaware North, was nominated last week by President Donald Trump to lead the park service.

Socha’s company once sued the National Park Service in a trademark dispute involving historic names within Yosemite National Park.

He has been with Delaware North for the past 27 years, according to the company’s website. Delaware North is a food and hotel management company based in Buffalo, N.Y., and operates Tenaya Lodge in Fish Camp, one of the most popular resorts in the region.

The company website indicates Delaware North operates hospitality services in seven national park and lodging operations in five gateway communities.

Socha’s nomination will require confirmation by the United States Senate.

One of the most well known aspects of Delaware North involves a famed trademark lawsuit involving Yosemite. The company had operated the concessions inside of Yosemite for 10 years but in 2016, it lost its bid, which was taken over by Aramark, the current concessionaire.

The company, after losing the bid, filed a lawsuit claiming the company held rights to various names used in the park worth more than $50 million. Those names included “Yosemite National Park,” “Curry Village” and the “Ahwahnee Hotel.”

In fact, the signs for Curry Village and the Ahwahnee, along with many others, were covered up by park officials for two years before the lawsuit was settled.

In July 2019, Delaware North settled the lawsuit with the National Park Service and Aramark for $12 million. The total $12 million settlement included $3.84 million from the NPS and $8.16 million from Aramark.

Names changed in 2016 were reverted, including The Majestic Yosemite Hotel back to The Ahwahnee and Half Dome Village back to Curry Village. Delaware North agreed to relinquish its claimed ownership of the trademarks to the NPS, ensuring the names remain with the government.

Locally, attempts were made to contact officials at the Yosemite Mariposa Tourism Bureau and Visit Yosemite Madera County to obtain statements from those groups. No response was received from either group as of our press time this week.

The nomination of Socha has been met with skepticism by many conservation groups.

The skepticism arises for many because, historically, the director of the NPS has been someone with vast experience inside the service. The park service has had an interim director for more than a year following the inauguration of Trump.

Jessica Bowron is the Acting Director of the National Park Service, having served in this capacity since Jan. 20, 2025. She is also the NPS Comptroller.

Jason O’Neill, a spokesperson for Save Our Parks, issued a statement concerning the nomination of Socha.

“The private park concessionaire executive Socha 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, making it abundantly clear he’ll be doing the bidding of special interests and corporate interests.”

“Senators must approach this nomination with the utmost of skepticism given Scott Socha’s history and the current state of our national parks,” wrote Aaron Weiss, the deputy director for the Center for Western Priorities, in a statement.

Others see the nomination as a positive step.

“Congratulations to our friend Scott Socha on his nomination to serve as director of the National Park Service. Scott is an outstanding choice to lead the charge in preserving America’s natural and cultural treasures,” wrote The Bernhardt Group, an influential lobbying firm, on X.

The park service has lost roughly 25 percent of its staff since Trump took office. Much of that came with buyouts of employees as well as reduction in force initiated by the Department of Government Efficiency, initially headed up by billionaire Elon Musk.

The park service has also been in the process of changing references to historical events and historic figures in national parks.