Montana ranchers urge for state help following Remington fire damage

BROADUS — Gov. Greg Gianforte held a roundtable on Thursday with local officials to discuss fire-relief steps.

In attendance at the Broadus Community Center were several federal and county officials, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), the Montana Stockgrowers Association, and tribal representatives to present fire information and resources to the governor.

Raylee Honeycutt is the executive vice president of the stockgrowers association and was one of the speakers at the table.

Justin McKinsey/MTN News

"(Gianforte) is great at showing up and really being a listening ear and trying to find solutions for those local needs," said Honeycutt. "I'm excited to be a part of the conversation and be able to offer solutions and work with the governor hand in hand on supporting locals."

She and the other attendees hoped to provide as many places for affected ranchers to find help. Money has been raised to assist them, but they now need a place to go.

“The key takeaway from this meeting was to kind of have a one-stop shop for people affected to go to and find resources,” said Honeycutt. “Over the next couple days, we'll be building out our website and providing those resources available for everybody to kind of connect to federal agencies, local partners, local agencies as well to help them recover as quickly as possible.”

Honeycutt encourages all who were affected to report their losses in livestock, hay, and land. The numbers reported will also assist in determining if a disaster declaration would be filled, something the officials asked for assistance with from Gianforte.

Also in attendance were ranchers that were affected by the devastating Remington Fire. While the fire is at 88% containment, the damages have been severe.

Justin McKinsey/MTN News

“The fire pretty much got it all. Right now we're at 105 miles of fence that's burned up," said rancher Jae Notti, who attended the roundtable. “We lost our shop, 40 by 60 shop. Everything. Had 39 years of my tools and pieces and parts."

Notti said he was glad he attended Thursday's meeting as the help will be much needed in the long recovery.

“That's going to be a long-term fix and a major expense. We usually take care of ourselves, but this is a big one. I wanted to learn more about the fences and actually thank some of these guys that have been in on this and coordinated it," said Notti.

Gianforte made sure to highlight the community effort from all parties that helped stop the fire.

“We have a whole lot of people step up, a lot of hay, fencing stuff. It's amazing,” said Notti.

The links below have several relief, recovery, and support resources:
Farm Service Agency Disaster Assistance Programs
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Montana Department of Natural Resources
MSA Wildfire Relief Fund