In 1997, after a difficult divorce, Utah rancher Heidi Redd was able to resist the temptation to sell off her land to developers. To preserve it, she sold it to the environmental group The Nature Conservancy in exchange for a promise that she would be allowed to keep working the place. Now that they've paved the road it will take you about an hour's drive south of Moab to get to the Dugout Ranch. Heidi has said as soon as she first saw the Dugout more than forty years ago she knew it was home.

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Filed under the following topic(s): Society and Community, Environment.

Posted by Utah NOW, Wednesday September 2nd, 2009 @ 2:38 pm

What a wonderful women, with great character. It was nice to hear her story, too bad it was only a half hour long.

Posted by Jason Barnes, Friday September 11th, 2009 @ 8:31 pm

Heidi is an impressive lady. Cowgirl in heart, soul and mind. I whish I could see the show online. Awesome photos.

Posted by Karin Postert, Saturday September 12th, 2009 @ 12:25 am

What a great show... who was that knowledgeable ranch hand that had an amazing way with words?

Posted by steve wentworth, Wednesday September 16th, 2009 @ 10:16 pm

Wow! What a beautiful piece.

Masterful camera work. Deft editing. The Windgate up close for the blocky texture of the cliff face, the shot from the farm yard toward the distant Moki Family, the scene of Heidi and Adam on horseback with a pan out showing an expansive desert. These were strong (and sweet) images for this viewer.

And Heidi's charismatic persona was the perfect focus for the project.  She is wonderful.

Not so nice, was Bruce Hucko’s characterization of Heidi’s ex-husband’s relationship to the Dugout as being “diminished,” and a “closed chapter.”  Hucko got that very wrong.  I know because I'm the ex-husband, and know that the Dugout remains a huge and undiminished presence in my heart.  Decades of living there and the love I now carry for the place make the Dugout an essential part of who I am. 

Hucko got it wrong; easy to do when one tries to describe the deep feelings of another.  

Heidi, though, gets it right when she says in the final words of the piece: 

“Once you are connected to a place, maybe you are always there ....”

Great work, Doug Fabrizio and KUED. You’ve made a beautiful video.

Posted by Robert Redd, Sunday September 20th, 2009 @ 9:42 am