The U.S. Forest Service is giving away firewood to local Indian tribes as part of the Four Forest Restoration Initiative.
The Initiative, which is known as 4FRI, was created to thin Arizona forests of small diameter trees and reduce wildfire risk.
There’s not much of a market for those trees, so in the meantime, the Forest Service is giving some of them away.
Henry Provencio is with 4FRI. He says not all tribal members have the ability to cut their own wood.
“It’s not free, right? You've got to pay to come into town, you've got to pay for your gas. You've got to have a chainsaw. You have to have a truck. You have to have the ability to be able to go out and cut wood, and we’re talking primarily about a lot of folks who are older, the elders on the reservation, they don’t have that ability to come in and cut wood," Provencio said.
About 170 acres of forest have been restored under the program.
