Heidi has been an animal lover her whole life. Working as the Animal Caretaker for the ONC and an Outreach Educator is a dream come true for her. She has a BS in Zoology/ Botany from Weber State University. She volunteered as a bird handler and caregiver for the Hogle Zoo Bird show, for the Living Planet Aquarium as a caretaker for all animal species, worked as a Wildlife Technician for many seasons at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources in the Aquatics Department doing native fish, frog, and toad studies.

Heidi started at the Ogden Nature Center as a volunteer caring for the animals in 1999. She eventually moved up to volunteer animal handler, educator for the Wildlife on Wheels program, and as a raptor rehabilitator in the former bird rehabilitation area of the Nature Center. Her love of raptors prompted her to obtain a State of Utah Falconry License.

Heidi served in the US Navy for 22 years as a Senior Chief Logistics Specialist with mobilizations to Kosovo, Iraq, and 3 tours to Afghanistan. She retired in 2019 after a 4-year term serving as the Senior Enlisted leader for the Defense Logistics Agency Defense Remediation Team.

In her free time Heidi loves to get a good workout in and hang with her own menagerie of animals at home.