BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — President Donald Trump is withdrawing his nomination of a hospitality company executive to lead the National Park Service, the White House announced Monday.
The withdrawal of nominee Scott Socha comes as the park service has been shaken by widespread firings as part of the Trump administration's pledge to sharply reduce its size.
No reason was immediately given for Socha's withdrawal.
The park service is currently overseen by an acting director, agency comptroller Jessica Bowron. It did not have a Senate-confirmed director during Trump's first term, when it was led by a series of acting directors.
Socha is president for parks and resorts at Buffalo, New York-based Delaware North, which has service contracts with numerous parks and describes itself as one of the world's largest privately owned entertainment and hospitality companies. A White House spokesperson had said when he was nominated in February that Socah was “totally qualified” to execute Trump’s plans for the park system.
But some conservation groups had questioned if Socha's private sector work provided the experience he would need to oversee hundreds of national parks and monuments that range from the Statue of Liberty and other cultural sites, to remote sites in the Utah desert.
The Associated Press sent email messages to the White House and Interior Department seeking comment on Socha's withdrawal.
Thousands of employees have been fired or otherwise left the park service since Trump took office.
Emily Douce with the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group, said Monday that the next director for the service needs to “undo the damage.”
“It’s very unfortunate that our parks have gone more than a year without a permanent director at a time when they need strong, steady leadership the most,” Douce said.
The Republican administration's proposed budget for next year would reduce staffing to 9,200 employees. That's down almost 30% compared to 2025 levels.
The park service's operating budget would be cut by more than $1 billion, to $2.2 billion, for the 2027 fiscal year that starts in October.
Similar cuts proposed for 2026 were blocked by lawmakers in Congress after park supporters and former employees warned the administration's proposal would have effectively gutted the agency.
The administration also has faced blowback for the removal or planned removal of national park exhibits about slavery, climate change and the destruction of Native American culture. In February, a federal judge said an exhibit about nine people enslaved by George Washington must be restored at his former home in Philadelphia after the Trump administration had taken it down.
Administration officials have said they are removing “disparaging” messages under an order last year from Trump. Critics accuse it of trying to whitewash the nation’s history.
Under Trump's interior secretary, Doug Burgum, the park service has started charging millions of international tourists who visit U.S. parks each year $100 each to visit sites including Yellowstone and Grand Canyon. The service also has put Trump's image onto its annual passes for U.S. citizens, drawing a lawsuit from environmentalists who said the move was illegal.
FILE - Tourists flock to Mather Point at Grand Canyon National Park, Oct. 1, 2025, in Grand Canyon, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
NAHUNTA, Ga. (AP) — Heavy rain slowed the progress of two sprawling southern Georgia wildfires over the weekend, allowing crews to make some progress in containing the blazes that have destroyed more than 100 homes.
Although the rain helped the firefighting efforts, it wasn't “nearly enough to put the fires out" and crews responded to 10 new blazes throughout the drought-stricken state Sunday, the Georgia Forestry Commission said Monday.
Blackened trees and charred palmetto fronds lined the shoulders of U.S. 82 on Monday in Brantley County, where Georgia's second-largest blaze, the Highway 82 Fire, has been tearing through the forest. Smoke poured from the ground in several spots beside the highway — a sign that fire still smoldered beneath the dirt.
Residents like Anna Beaver, who had to evacuate her home in the small community of Atkinson, are doing what they can to help each other. Beaver has been spending her time accepting and sorting donated clothing at her church, Southside Baptist Church in Nahunta, a community of about 1,000 people that is the Brantley County seat. The church has been offering shelter, food, diapers and other supplies to people displaced by the fire.
“My heart hurts for everyone who has lost their homes, and I just want to help any way I can,” she said.
Danielle and David Grantham have been hunkering down at their home in the Atkinson area. They live in a neighborhood that was under an evacuation order Monday, so they wouldn't be allowed back in if they left, and have been accepting donations of pet food and other supplies from friends.
“We haven’t left just because we’re trying to help other people out,” Danielle Grantham said.
All across Brantley County on Monday, there was praise for the efforts of firefighters and other emergency responders.
In the small community of Waynesville, a charred cinderblock shed stood near a wood-sided home that appeared unscathed. The house has been vacant and is being sold. Larry Ferrell, a carpenter hired to perform maintenance and repairs on the home before the owner closes with a buyer, returned there to work Monday.
“The firefighters got in here and saved it,” Ferrell said.
Georgia's biggest blaze, the Pineland Road Fire, has scorched more than 50 square miles (130 square kilometers) and at least 35 homes in a sparsely populated and heavily wooded part of the state about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of Florida, which is also dealing with wildfires. The area has been full of highly combustible dead trees and other vegetation since Hurricane Helene carved a destructive path northward in September of 2024.
About 60 miles (97 kilometers) to the northeast, the Highway 82 Fire has been burning since April 20. It has destroyed at least 87 homes and torched more than 35 square miles (90 square kilometers), according to figures released Monday. It is only 6% contained.
“The fire basically doubled last night in size,” Brantley County Manager Joey Cason said in a Facebook post Sunday. “It is a dynamic fire event that will be impacted by the wind.”
Authorities believe the Highway 82 blaze was sparked by a foil balloon hitting live power lines. That created an electrical arc that ignited combustible material on the ground. They think the Pineland Road fire was started by sparks from a welding operation.
Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock was in the area of the Highway 82 fire pm Monday. He said he assured residents that he's pushing to get federal resources “both to contain this fire and then to respond to the devastation that communities will continue to experience over the next few weeks."
Warnock said he's working closely with the governor's office on getting disaster relief funds. Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to survey damage from the Pineland Road Fire on Tuesday.
An unusually large number of wildfires are burning this spring across the Southeast. Firefighters have been battling more than 150 other wildfires in Georgia and Florida alone. Scientists say the threat of fire has been amplified by a combination of extreme drought, gusty winds, climate change and dead trees and other vegetation.
No fire deaths or injuries have been reported in Georgia. But in northern Florida, Nassau County Sheriff’s Office volunteer firefighter James “Kevin” Crews died Thursday evening after he suffered an unspecified medical emergency while suppressing a brush fire.
Florida's blazes are smaller than Georgia’s two biggest, but the 139 Fire has burned 10 square miles (26 square kilometers) of the Apalachicola National Forest in Liberty County, southwest of Tallahassee, since March 17. No structures have been lost in that fire, and no serious injuries have been reported, federal authorities said.
Martin reported from Atlanta.
Blackened trees and charred palmetto fronds lined the shoulders of U.S. 82 on Monday, April 27, 2026 in Brantley County, Ga., as smoke poured from the ground in several spots beside the highway. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)
Blackened trees and charred palmetto fronds lined the shoulders of U.S. 82 on Monday, April 27, 2026 in Brantley County, Ga., as smoke poured from the ground in several spots beside the highway. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)
A charred cinderblock shed stands near the Waynesville community in Brantley County, Ga., on Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)
The photo provided by the Office of Gov. Brian Kemp shows smoke produced by a wildfire in Brantley County, Ga., Friday, April 24, 2026. (Office of Gov. Brian Kemp via AP)
The photo provided by the Office of Gov. Brian Kemp shows smoke produced by a wildfire in Brantley County, Ga., Friday, April 24, 2026. (Office of Gov. Brian Kemp via AP)
Jennifer Murphy and her dog Chip sit inside the Southside Baptist church as she is displanced by the Brantley Highway 82 fire, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Nahunta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
The photo provided by the Office of Gov. Brian Kemp shows smoke produced from a wildfire in Brantley County, Ga., Friday, April 24, 2026. (Office of Gov. Brian Kemp via AP)
