{"id":11711,"date":"2026-04-28T00:13:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T00:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=11711"},"modified":"2026-04-28T00:13:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T00:13:46","slug":"trump-just-withdrew-his-pick-for-national-park-service-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=11711","title":{"rendered":"Trump Just Withdrew His Pick for National Park Service Director"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"justify-start\">\n<nav class=\"align-left col-span-full mb-base\" data-pom-e2e-test-id=\"breadcrumbs\"\/>\n<p>The White House announced on April 27 that it had withdrawn Scott Socha, a longtime Delaware North exec, as head of the NPS.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"border-border-light border-t py-base-tight\">\n<div class=\"flex h-4 justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex gap-x-base-tight\">\n<div class=\"\"><button class=\"inline-flex shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full hover:cursor-pointer bg-bg-surface hover:bg-bg-light focus:bg-bg-dark text-primary border border-solid border-border-light aria-pressed:bg-brand-primary aria-pressed:text-text-surface py-very-tight px-base-tight gap-tight font-semibold font-utility-2 opacity-50\" aria-label=\"Loading audio\" aria-pressed=\"false\" id=\"article-listen-button\" disabled=\"\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"18\" height=\"18\" viewbox=\"0 0 18 18\" fill=\"none\" class=\"\"><title>Listen to this article<\/title><path d=\"M12.5265 16.2C12.2326 16.2 12.0122 16.1265 11.7184 16.053C11.2775 15.9061 10.9102 15.6122 10.6898 15.2449C10.4694 14.8775 10.3959 14.4367 10.5428 13.9959L11.5714 10.3959C11.6449 10.1755 11.7184 9.95509 11.8653 9.80815C12.0122 9.66121 12.1592 9.51427 12.3796 9.36733C12.6 9.29386 12.8204 9.2204 13.0408 9.14693C13.2612 9.14693 13.4816 9.14693 13.702 9.2204H13.7755C14.2163 9.36733 14.5837 9.58774 14.951 9.95509C14.951 9.66121 14.951 9.29386 14.951 8.99999C14.951 7.38366 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3.34284 12.5265 3.41631 12.6735L3.71019 13.849ZM13.2612 10.3224C13.1877 10.3224 13.1877 10.3224 13.2612 10.3224C13.1143 10.3224 13.0408 10.3224 12.9673 10.3959C12.8939 10.4694 12.8204 10.4694 12.8204 10.4694C12.7469 10.5428 12.7469 10.6163 12.7469 10.6898L11.7184 14.2898C11.6449 14.4367 11.7184 14.5837 11.7918 14.7306C11.8653 14.8775 12.0122 14.951 12.0857 15.0245C12.3796 15.0979 12.5265 15.0979 12.7469 15.0979C12.9673 15.0979 13.1877 15.0245 13.3347 14.8775C13.5551 14.8041 13.702 14.6571 13.849 14.4367C13.9959 14.2898 14.0694 14.0694 14.1428 13.849L14.5102 12.6735C14.5837 12.5265 14.5837 12.3061 14.6571 12.1592C14.7306 11.7918 14.6571 11.4245 14.5102 11.1306C14.2898 10.7633 13.9959 10.4694 13.5551 10.3224H13.4816C13.3347 10.3224 13.2612 10.3224 13.2612 10.3224Z\" fill=\"currentColor\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"hidden sm:inline\">Listen<\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/p>\n<p class=\"fp-leadCaption py-tight text-left font-utility text-utility3-size leading-utility3-line-height text-secondary\">The NPS directorship is on hold<!-- --> (Photo: Tayfun Coskun\/Anadolu\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-body\">\n<p>Published April 27, 2026 05:19PM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Trump Administration abruptly withdrew its pick to run the National Park Service (NPS) on Monday, April 27.<\/p>\n<p>Scott Socha, who had previously been tapped to run the NPS back in February, was among the names of withdrawals <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2026\/04\/nominations-and-withdrawals-sent-to-the-senate-d935\/\">published by the White House<\/a> on Monday afternoon. The news release did not state a reason for Socha\u2019s withdrawal.<\/p>\n<p>The news was first reported by <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eenews.net\/articles\/white-house-yanks-national-park-service-director-nominee\/\"><em>E&amp;E News<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Socha had been a controversial choice to lead the NPS when the Trump Administration formally announced him as its choice for director. A longtime executive with foodservice and management company Delaware North, Socha had no prior experience in public land management. Delaware North provides concessions and management at some NPS sites, however it does not directly oversee the parks or rangers.<\/p>\n<p>The three previous heads of the agency all had lengthy careers in overseeing public land.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf confirmed, he must put the Park Service\u2019s mission first, stand up for park staff, fill critical vacancies, and halt attacks on our nation\u2019s history,\u201d said Theresa Pierno, CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement in February.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement published on June 27, Aaron Weiss, the deputy director for the Center for Western Priorities, called Socha \u201cdeeply unqualified to run the National Park Service.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur parks deserve far better than someone who spent his entire career trying to privatize them,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cPresident Trump should have no problem finding a qualified leader inside NPS, unless they\u2019ve all taken Doug Burgum\u2019s latest buyout offer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>This is a developing story; stay tuned to Outside for more updates.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-adventure\/environment\/trump-nps-socha-withdrawal\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The White House announced on April 27 that it had withdrawn Scott Socha, a longtime Delaware North exec, as head of the NPS. Listen to this articleListen The NPS directorship is on hold (Photo: Tayfun Coskun\/Anadolu\/Getty Images) Published April 27, 2026 05:19PM The Trump Administration abruptly withdrew its pick to run the National Park Service<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wild-living"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}