WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2011 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 22 counties in Montana as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by severe winter storms, blizzards, excessive moisture and flooding that began Jan. 1 and continues.
Those counties are:
| Big Horn | Glacier | Phillips |
| Carter | Golden Valley | Powder River |
| Chouteau | Hill | Richland |
| Custer | Judith Basin | Rosebud |
| Dawson | McCone | Treasure |
| Fallon | Mussellshell | Wheatland |
| Fergus | Petroleum | Wibaux |
| Garfield |
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Montana also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous:
| Blaine | Meagher | Sweet Grass |
| Carbon | Pondera | Teton |
| Cascade | Prairie | Toole |
| Flathead | Roosevelt | Valley |
| Liberty | Stillwater | Yellowstone |
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in North Dakota and South Dakota also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous:
North Dakota
| Bowman | Golden Valley | McKenzie |
| Slope | Williams |
South Dakota
Butte and Harding
All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas Aug. 23, 2011, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met.
Additional information is available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
