Wild Lands of the West | The BLM, National Geographic Magazine: Nature Conservancy Ranch

Morning light reflects on canyon walls above the Dugout Ranch where a cowboy leads his horse from a stall to be saddled in San Juan County near Monticello, Utah.

A stunning piece of property, the ranch is surrounded by park and public land, where Puebloan rock art and dwellings are found through out the 5,200-acre ranch.

The ranch was attained for ecological research and managed as an economically viable and ecologically sustainable cattle ranch.