The U.S. Forest Service has released an environmental review that paves the way for more thinning projects and prescribed burns in northern and eastern Arizona.
The agency released hundreds of pages of documents Thursday for the Rim Country Project.
It's part of a larger effort to reduce the risk of wildfire on 3,750 square miles of national forests in Arizona. The Four Forest Restoration Initiative is the largest of its kind.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says communities at risk of wildfire should see the pace of such projects accelerate over the coming years.