DENVER (AP) – Thirty of Colorado’s 64 counties have been designated as primary natural disaster areas due to severe drought and heat, making farmers and ranchers there and in adjacent counties eligible for low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday that overall, 43 Colorado counties are eligible for aid.

They are Adams, Alamosa, Arapahoe, Baca, Bent, Boulder, Broomfield, Chaffee, Cheyenne, Clear Creek, Costilla, Crowley, Custer, Denver, Douglas, Eagle, Elbert, El Paso, Fremont, Gunnison, Huerfano, Jefferson, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Lake, Larimer, Las Animas, Lincoln, Logan, Morgan, Otero, Park, Phillips, Pitkin, Prowers, Pueblo, Saguache, Sedgwick, Summit, Teller, Washington, Weld and Yuma counties.

Laramie County in Wyoming is among the contiguous counties in other states that also are eligible for aid.

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