How Are Producers Recovering After 2017 Southern Plains Wildfires?

Nine months have passed since wildfires charred parts of the central and southern Plains during a three-day span of furious fire. Now, a proposed disaster relief package may offer more help to ranchers in need. The House recently unveiled a disaster aid plan to help cover some of the cost of hurricanes and wildfires the country faced in 2017. House Republicans are releasing an $81 billion disaster aid package, funding that’s nearly twice the request the White House made. The money could be split between a host of federal agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Agriculture. AgDay national reporter Betsy Jibben looks at how producers in Kansas and Oklahoma are recovering and still rebuilding. She talks with Dr. Randall Spare, a veterinarian from the Ashland Veterinary Center, and producers Jenny Betschart in Ashland, Kansas and Bernie Smith in Beaver County, Oklahoma.

By Betsy Jibben

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November 19, 2020 11:48 PM

Nine months have passed since wildfires charred parts of the central and southern Plains during a three-day span of furious fire.

Now, a proposed disaster relief package may offer more help to ranchers in need. The House recently unveiled a disaster aid plan to help cover some of the cost of hurricanes and wildfires the country faced in 2017.

House Republicans are releasing an $81 billion disaster aid package, funding that’s nearly twice the request the White House made.

The money could be split between a host of federal agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Agriculture.

AgDay national reporter Betsy Jibben looks at how producers in Kansas and Oklahoma are recovering and still rebuilding.

She talks with Dr. Randall Spare, a veterinarian from the Ashland Veterinary Center, and producers Jenny Betschart in Ashland, Kansas and Bernie Smith in Beaver County, Oklahoma.