The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated Broadwater and Lincoln counties as primary natural disaster areas for drought and included Lewis and Clark, Jefferson and Meagher counties among six “contiguous counties” in Montana also eligible for emergency assistance.

This natural disaster designation allows the USDA Farm Service Agency to extend emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters through emergency loans. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation, or to refinance certain debts.

The Farm Service Agency will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available, and repayment ability, the USDA said in a news release.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor at Current Map | U.S. Drought Monitor (unl.edu), these counties suffered from a drought intensity value during the growing season of 1) D2 Drought-Severe for eight or more consecutive weeks or 2) D3 Drought-Extreme or D4 Drought-Exceptional.

The application deadline is May 9. Applications and more information is at https://go.helenair.com/6odbx1.

Other “contiguous counties” in Montana also eligible are Flathead, Gallatin and Sanders.

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