ARIZONA — The plan was ambitious and sold as righteous in a time of increasing wildfires in the forests of northern Arizona: A mill working under a federal contract would clear out small trees, removing them as potential wildfire fuel, and turning them into usable lumber. The company with those plans, NewLife Forest Restoration, received help in building the mill from a relatively obscure state agency, the Arizona Industrial Development Authority. In February 2022, the authority authorized the issuance of nearly $200 million worth of bonds for the project. But the sawmill has run into financial trouble. …The project has had fits and starts as part of a decade-long plan by the U.S. Forest Service to thin out small pine trees with the aim of avoiding catastrophic wildfires. In September 2021, the U.S. Forest Service stopped the bidding process for a second phase of its Four Forest Restoration Initiative.