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Wyoming Humanities awards thousands more in grants and sponsorships

Climate change is causing the American West to experience what’s now being called a megadrought…the worst water shortage in 1,200 years. The Ogallala Aquifer is a huge underground water source supplying eight states where it may seem safely stored away. But as one ranching community in southeast Wyoming is finding out…that water is disappearing. Part of the problem is that water law hasn’t kept up with emerging science.

Wyoming Public Radio Alan Kirkbride on the bank of Horse Creek. He's worried that proposed wells into the groundwater could drain this creek he relies on for ranching. Driving east out of Cheyenne, a lot of people probably think there's nothing but cornfields and oil wells. But if you climb in an ATV with rancher Alan Kirkbride, he'll show you a secret world where his ancestors have raised cattle since the late 1800s. We climb out on the bank of Horse Creek where thick willows grow under high white cliffs. Kirkbride says little creeks like this seep up from groundwater that's essential for g...