A year-round opportunity to explore the potential of the Burning Man community.
Each August, the annual Burning Man event transforms a desolate corner of northern Nevada into a thriving temporary metropolis fueled by creativity, experimentation, and awe. In 2016, the organization behind this city acquired Fly Ranch, a 3,800 acre property just north of the event site. This property is home to dozens of hot and cold springs, three geysers, acres of wetlands, dozens of animal species, and more than 100 identified types of plants. The Fly Ranch project is an opportunity to create a year-round rural incubator for Burning Man culture and a catalyst for innovation and creativity in the world.
In the long term, the possibilities are vast. Fly Ranch will be able to expand Burning Man Project’s activities and amplify the impact of creative culture in a world beyond Black Rock City. It can serve as an incubator for ideas from our temporary city and give them a real-world testing ground. It can become a place to experiment with shelter, energy, water, environmentalism, new models of living, working and governance.
If you’d like to learn about what we’re up to, check out the Fly Ranch Roadmap. You can join a nature walk to explore the property first-hand.
Our website is a work in progress meant to share what we know and the next steps we hope will come. Read on to learn more. Stay up to date with the Fly Ranch Newsletter and the blog or reach out to us at gro.namgninrubnull@hcnarylf.
Fly Ranch opens the door to new cultural experiments and art and innovation projects on a new scale. And like Black Rock City, these projects require a vast array of skills, ideas, and contributions and community participation will be essential. Want to get involved? Great! To reach out and hear about ongoing and upcoming projects, sign up for our newsletter.
The Fly Ranch Project
This project is an experimental and evolving project still in early days. What’s just as important now as what happens on the property is how we choose to go about it. Our process requires a balance of playfulness and seriousness, planning and spontaneity, group work and individual contributions. Generally, every time we learn something, it leads to several more questions and ideas. We’re looking carefully at how best to develop a sustainable, scalable foundation to support a growing network of volunteers and community members.
Read More: The project and our values.
Fly Ranch is a 3,800-acre of diverse landscape in a high desert valley in the Black Rock Desert, located 24 miles north of Gerlach, NV.
We’ve identified 140 different plants, 88 types of birds, and photographed antelope, horses, foxes, and falcons on the property. We’ve started studying the water from the pools, geysers, and wells. We’ve also found scrap metal, hoses, core samples, pieces of cars, an airplane, discarded machinery, and barbed wire. We’re prioritizing conservation and restoration of the property and supporting projects in geology, hydrology, botany, permaculture, sustainability and more.
Read More: The Land of Fly Ranch
We’re making investments in site improvements and infrastructure, expanding the ways for people to get involved, and a launching a design challenge to develop creative, community-sourced, and sustainable foundational infrastructure at Fly Ranch. We’ll be working on ways for members of the Burning Man community and the public to bring their art, infrastructure, and offerings and transitioning towards long term environmental, financial, and operational sustainability. Our roadmap is the most comprehensive look at the Fly Ranch Project and what’s happening in the next year.
Read More: Read the Fly Ranch roadmap.
There are many opportunities to get involved with the Fly Ranch project or to visit the property. You join one of the weekly Nature Walks hosted by the Friends of Black Rock-High Rock or sign up for a Work Weekend campout or volunteer project. Subscribe to the Fly Ranch Newsletter to start getting involved.
Read More: How to visit or get involved.
Fly Ranch is a bit step in the grand experiment that is Burning Man. It has the potential to become a platform for cultural growth and social impact upon which a diverse community can apply its inspiration, creativity, and passion.
Your donation will support the envisioning, planning, and programming for this inspiring next step in Burning Man’s evolution.
Read More: Make a donation.
A wellspring of innovation.
Art Credits
Photos: Justin Majeczky, Sashwa Burrous, Justin Lewis, Zac Cirivello
Map: Carson Linforth Bowley
Geyser Graphic: Android Jones