CPR News Cattle drink and cool off in an irrigation ditch in Gunnison County on June 30, 2021. (Michael Elizabeth Sakas/CPR News) On the side of a dirt road in Gunnison County, a herd of cattle is cooling off in the water of an irrigation ditch. Doug Washburn, range manager for Spann Ranches in southwestern Colorado, points at the hills surrounding the operation’s northern headquarters. “It’s not as bright and as green as you would think, just because the ground itself is so parched,” Washburn said. Colorado’s Western Slope is considered a climate hot spot where temperatures are increasing faster than the global average. This warming has contributed to more than 20 years of dryness, which scientists are calling a megadrought.