The Revolving Door Spins Again: Doug Burgum and Scott Socha’s Corporate Takeover of America’s National Parks
Memorandum: The Revolving Door Spins Again: Doug Burgum and Scott Socha’s Corporate Takeover of America’s National Parks
To: Interested Parties
From: Save Our Parks
Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Contact: Jayson O’Neill, Save Our Parks Spokesperson
The Trump administration’s nomination of Delaware North executive Scott Socha to lead the National Park Service isn’t just another fox-guarding-the-henhouse situation. It’s the latest example of a revolving-door culture at Doug Burgum’s Interior Department that enriches corporations and former government officials while dismantling protections for America’s national parks and public lands.
Socha’s nomination represents a continuation of Burgum’s park privatization agenda. He’s a career concessionaire executive with zero public service experience who would be tasked with regulating his own employer. Delaware North holds lucrative contracts across multiple national parks and has a documented history of aggressive litigation against the Park Service. The same corporation that attempted to trademark iconic Yosemite names and demanded tens of millions in a settlement would effectively have its own executive writing the rules and awarding the contracts.
But Socha and Burgum aren’t the only names in this corrupt arrangement. David Bernhardt, Trump’s former Interior Secretary, opened a lobbying firm after leaving government, shilling for mining corporation USA Rare Earth to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Shortly after, the Trump administration took an equity stake in the company, and Trump mega-donors were even allowed to buy into the company in a private round just before the stake was announced.
Bernhardt’s broader client roster reads like a who's who of foreign mining corporations and extractive industry interests, entities bent on squeezing maximum value from Americans’ public land. His firm has raked in millions in fees, much of it from foreign-owned corporations seeking favorable treatment from the agency he once led. Save Our Parks called out this arrangement last week, posing a series of questions that David Bernhardt should answer about his representation of foreign clients and how he is helping foreign companies shape policy and politics in America.
Bernhardt’s firm also represents Delaware North – who’s now getting “their guy” placed in charge of America’s national parks. This is regulatory capture in action: former officials profit from relationships built in government while corporate insiders position themselves to serve their employers’ interests from within the very agencies meant to protect the public, building a closed loop that shuts out the American people entirely.
This systematic approach to converting oversight positions into profit centers demands congressional scrutiny. Senators must ask pointed questions during Socha’s confirmation hearing: Will he recuse himself from all matters involving Delaware North? How will he prevent the appearance of rewarding his former employer with favorable contract terms? What safeguards will he put in place to prevent corporate influence over America’s great outdoors? What kind of influence will David Bernhardt have inside the national parks under his leadership?
Congress has a constitutional duty to examine these conflicts of interest and reject nominees who prioritize corporate profit over the public trust. The integrity of America’s national parks – and the principle that public lands belong to all Americans, not just those who can afford to lobby for access – hangs in the balance.
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