U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar [R-District 1] was in Camp Verde last week to unveil new proposed legislation aiming to reduce the risk of damaging wildfires in Arizona.

Gosar spoke to a group hosted by the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association on May 1.

The bill, the Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act of 2012, calls for a federal review process and would allow the U.S. Forest Service to take advantage of rules that would speed up grazing and forest thinning on federal lands.

Grazing, proponents argue, can perform a vital service, not only for ranchers but also by reducing the amount of fuel on forest lands that often allows wildfires to grow more quickly and become even more destructive.

For the full story, see the Wednesday, May 9, edition of The Camp Verde Journal or the Cottonwood Journal Extra.