President Donald Trump withdrew his nominee to lead the National Park Service, adding to the uncertainty looming over the agency, which the Trump administration is seeking to shrink.
The White House gave notice of the withdrawal of the nomination for hospitality executive Scott Socha on Monday as part of an announcement on the latest nominees and withdrawals for agency positions. The NPS, which is part of the Interior Department, is responsible for managing the country’s national parks, monuments, and other historical sites.
Trump nominated Socha in February. He worked as president for parks and resorts at Delaware North, a Buffalo, New York-based food service and hospitality company.
Socha said in a statement to the Hill that he withdrew his nomination due to “personal reasons.”
“I am grateful to the President and the Secretary of the Interior for the confidence placed in me and appreciative of the consideration shown throughout the nomination process,” he said.
Some liberal and environmentalist groups have spoken out against Socha’s nomination, arguing that he was unqualified to oversee the hundreds of sites the park service manages.
“Our parks deserve far better than someone who spent his entire career trying to privatize them,” Center for Western Priorities Deputy Director Aaron Weiss said in reaction to Socha’s nomination withdrawal. The Center for Western Priorities is a conservation and advocacy organization that often aligns with liberal policies.
The Park Service is currently led by acting director Jessica Bowron. During Trump’s first term, the service was led by a number of acting directors.
Thousands of NPS employees have been laid off or left the agency since the start of Trump’s second term.
As part of its fiscal 2027 budget request, the Trump administration has asked for $2.2 billion for NPS, which would be a $1 billion reduction in funding. The White House budget proposal is a request to Congress, and legislators have ignored massive agency cut requests from the Trump administration in previous years.
Conservationists have warned that the reduction in staffing and low budget threaten the protection and maintenance of national parks.
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The National Parks Conservation Association said this month that, since January 2025, the Park Service has lost about 25% of its workforce, which is over 4,000 staff.
The group said the administration’s budget request would “gut the National Park Service, threatening the protection, maintenance and operation of more than 430 national parks nationwide.”