Prescribed burns outside Bayfield postponed amid federal shutdown

Prescribed burns scheduled for October within the Columbine Ranger District near Bayfield have been postponed until the federal government shutdown ends. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald file)

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Prescribed burns scheduled for October within the Columbine Ranger District near Bayfield have been postponed until the federal government shutdown ends. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald file)

Prescribed burns scheduled in October near Bayfield are being postponed until the federal government reopens.

Several local fire officials confirmed the delay but declined to speak on the record so as not to appear to represent the Forest Service.

Efforts to reach U.S. Forest Service officials were unsuccessful, likely because of the shutdown.

A note pinned to the Forest Service’s website blames “Radical Left Democrats” for the government shutdown.

A notice at the top of the U.S. Forest Service’s website blames “Radical Left Democrats” for the government shutdown. (Screenshot)

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A notice at the top of the U.S. Forest Service’s website blames “Radical Left Democrats” for the government shutdown. (Screenshot)

Some watchdog groups say those messages may violate the Hatch Act, which is designed to maintain the nonpartisanship of federal agencies.

​“The law’s purposes are to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion, to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace, and to ensure that federal employees are advanced based on merit and not based on political affiliation,” according to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

sedmondson@durangoherald.com