For more than 15 years, Scott Fitzwilliams led … the “crown jewel” of U.S. federal land — 2.2 million acres in Colorado that includes world class ski resorts… and sees a lot of wildfire. So when he was told in February to fire more than a dozen U.S. Forest Service employees from White River National Forest, one of his main concerns was: Will enough people be around to make sure the next big blaze doesn’t get out of control? …Fitzwilliams resigned in protest over the cuts, part of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce… Eight months later, a new report confirms some of Fitzwilliams’s fears. A data analysis shared with The Washington Post found that as of the end of September, Forest Service work to reduce fire-fueling debris was down nearly 40 percent on this date compared with where it has been on average over the previous four years… [A subscription to the Washington Post is required for full story access]

Additional coverage: Grassroots Wildland Firefighters News Release: New Data Shows Alarming Impact of Cuts to Wildfire Mitigation