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Kansas county hard hit by wildfires gets fencing funds

Senator Roberts survey wildfire damage in Southwest Kansas photo courtesy office of Senator Pat Roberts

ASHLAND, Kan. (AP) — About five months after wildfires swept through Kansas, ranchers in the hardest-hit county have received the second installment of federal funds needed to replace fences.

Clark County ranchers will get about $18 million in federal funds for miles of fencing lost when fires burned about 425,000 acres in March. The county received half of the $18 million shortly after the fire but the rest was delayed by budget shortfalls.

Carla Wikoff, with the Kansas Farm Service Agency, says the rest of the funds for Clark County came in last week. A mile of fence, with labor, costs about $10,000 to replace.

About 711,000 acres burned in Kansas in early March, with most of the losses coming in what was called the Starbuck fire in southwestern Kansas.

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