GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — Officials say U.S. Border Patrol agents and officers from the Blackfeet Department of Homeland Security reached several isolated ranches on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation earlier this week to make welfare checks following severe weather.
The patrol used a Black Hawk helicopter to reach some ranches more than 7 miles off the main road that could not be reached by automobile.
The residents were safe but officials say they later returned to some ranches with off-road vehicles to deliver food and supplies.
Blackfeet Homeland Security Director Robert DesRosier says he became concerned after heavy snow and temperatures to 35 degrees below zero hit the area.