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Women of Beef

Heidi Redd and the Dugout Ranch: A Rancher's Pact With Conservation

She ran cattle at the Dugout Ranch for decades, then helped bring in The Nature Conservancy to keep it intact.

Who is Heidi Redd?

Heidi Redd is a Utah rancher who ran the Dugout Ranch in Indian Creek, next to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. She is credited with helping create a partnership between working ranches and land conservation organizations, and in 2022 she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

She is a living person, so this profile covers her public professional record.

Taking over Indian Creek Cattle Company

According to the Cowgirl Museum's profile, in 1967 she and her husband at the time bought the Indian Creek Cattle Company and the historic Dugout Ranch near Canyonlands. The museum notes that an interest in skydiving and adventure led her into ranching. A Deseret News profile says she grew up in Ogden, Utah, and bought her first horse, named Brownie, at a local fair for five dollars.

The ranch's size depends on the source. The museum lists 5,200 acres with 300,000 acres of grazing allotments, while the Deseret News describes more than 5,000 acres of pasture and water rights and permits to graze cattle on more than 350,000 acres of adjacent federal land. Sources differ, and herd counts are not given.

The 1997 deal with The Nature Conservancy

In 1997 The Nature Conservancy bought the Dugout, jointly with Redd and her family, to keep it from development. Securing the purchase took months of negotiation and a media campaign to raise donations. Dave Livermore, the Conservancy's former Utah state director, has said the deal would not have happened without Heidi Redd and her family, according to The Nature Conservancy's announcement of her book.

The Dugout is adjacent to Canyonlands National Park and is the largest private inholding in Bears Ears National Monument. Redd has voiced concern about regional growth and pressures such as luxury homes and resorts.

The Canyonlands Research Center

In 2009 the partnership established the Canyonlands Research Center at the ranch as a year-round outdoor laboratory for scientists, universities and federal agencies. It hosts researchers studying drylands restoration, range management and climate change impacts on ranchers and other arid-land users.

Redd no longer actively runs cattle but still lives at the ranch, and family members now run the cattle operation and the research center, according to the Deseret News.

The Key to Her Success

Redd's record shows how a rancher can keep land in agriculture by choosing a conservation partner rather than selling to developers. It also shows trade-offs: the ranch's future now depends on a joint arrangement, and private development pressure in the region remains a worry.

The documented lessons are concrete.

  • She picked a partner. The Nature Conservancy bought the Dugout jointly with her family, which kept the ranch working.
  • She showed up. Livermore described her as the organization's key asset in meetings and fundraising.
  • She turned the ranch into a place for science, with the Canyonlands Research Center opening in 2009.
  • She stayed active in ranching groups, as a member of the Utah Cattlemen's Association and a Bureau of Land Management advisory committee.
  • She told the story herself in a book that drew proceeds for The Nature Conservancy in Utah.

A Cowgirl's Conservation Journey

Her book, A Cowgirl's Conservation Journey: Stories from the Dugout Ranch, was published by The Nature Conservancy's Utah chapter in 2024, with a foreword by former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. It won the 2025 Western Writers of America Spur Award for Best First Western Nonfiction Book and was a finalist for Best Western Contemporary Nonfiction.

Stories reported from the book include a night she and her horse spent on a mountain in a snowstorm and an older bear that refused to leave until ranch hands roped it and a game officer relocated it.

Honors and recognition

Redd's honors include the Natural Resources Conservation Service's Conservation Farmer of the Year, the Wallace Stegner Conservation Award, a Conservation Leadership Award from the Sundance Film Festival and her 2022 Cowgirl Hall of Fame induction.

For more on ranchers who protect land, read farm.FM's ranching section or a farm.FM story about ranchers and conservation.

Timeline

  1. 1967Buys the Indian Creek Cattle Company and Dugout Ranch
  2. 1997The Nature Conservancy buys the Dugout jointly with Redd and her family
  3. 2009Canyonlands Research Center is established at the ranch
  4. 2016Former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell visits the ranch
  5. 2022Inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame
  6. 2024Her book A Cowgirl's Conservation Journey is published
  7. 2025Book wins the Western Writers of America Spur Award for Best First Western Nonfiction

Frequently asked questions

Who is Heidi Redd?

She is a Utah rancher who ran the Dugout Ranch near Canyonlands National Park and helped partner it with The Nature Conservancy in 1997. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 2022.

What is the Dugout Ranch?

It is a working ranch in Indian Creek, Utah, beside the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. It is the largest private inholding in Bears Ears National Monument and hosts the Canyonlands Research Center.

What book did Heidi Redd write?

A Cowgirl's Conservation Journey: Stories from the Dugout Ranch, published in 2024 by The Nature Conservancy's Utah chapter. It won the 2025 Spur Award for Best First Western Nonfiction Book.

How big is the Dugout Ranch?

Sources differ: about 5,000 to 5,200 acres owned, plus grazing permits on roughly 300,000 to 350,000 acres of federal land.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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