Former supervisor of Colorado’s busiest national forest says public lands are ‘being held captive’ amid government shutdown

Former supervisor of Colorado’s busiest national forest says public lands are ‘being held captive’ amid government shutdown

During his more than three decades working for the U.S. Forest Service, Scott Fitzwilliams endured his fair share of government shutdowns. There was a 35-day partial shutdown — the longest in the nation’s history — during the winter of 2018-19, during President Donald Trump’s first term. There was also the 2013 shutdown, which lasted 16 days, and the second-longest shutdown in history that lasted 21 days in 1995-96, among others.  “I’ve been thr…