Welcome Home

Fly Ranch is a 5.6 square mile sanctuary in Nevada, home to plants, animals, and the Fly Geyser hot springs.

Fly Ranch is a Burning Man rural center for interactive arts, community participation, and public benefit.

Fly is an oasis of art and ecology that inspires awe and wonder. People gather year-round to explore, create, and innovate.

Planning a visit? Please read the survival guide before you arrive.

Projects

In many ways, Fly is a successful Burning Man rural center for interactive arts and community participation. On the broad arc though, we’re 1 - 2% done. Check the gallery to see what we've done.

Vision & History

The dream was born in the 90s and crystalized at the 1997 Burning Man at Fly. The deal was finalized in 2016. Browse the interactive site plan, vision, and 25 years worth of maps, videos, and memos.

Impact & Metrics

We care for the land and help people get involved. Since 2016 we've spent $2.7M, made $2.3M, and avoided water costs of $1M+. Projects have supported eight figure Burning Man Nonprofit capital campaigns.

We Are Guests

Fly Ranch is on Numu (Northern Paiute) lands of at least four distinct Numu tribes. We strive to support Indigenous peoples, take direct action, and address settler colonialism in our culture.

Visit Fly Ranch

Since 2016 we have walked, worked, and studied the land. Since 2021 50 - 400 people a week have visited for 32 weeks. We have excavated landfills, restored junkyards, and upcycled relics from the airport, ranch, and farm. You can visit and participate 365 days a year.

Join a Nature Walk

Every Saturday April to October

Become a Guardian

Camp, monitor, & protect the land

Propose a Project

Roll up your sleeves & participate

Sunday Community Soaks

For locals & Fly Ranch community

Labyrinth Walks

Sunday at 2 PM with Will & Crimson

Friends & Family Campouts

Connect and work on the land

Virtual Tour

Get a sense of the landcape of Fly Ranch.

Take the Tour

Residents

144 plants, 15 mammals, 138 birds, 12 reptiles, and more animal friends live at Fly. The springs are home to a metazoan with the highest temperature tolerance of any metazoan, rare photosynthetic microbial mats, and the Fly Ranch pyrg (Pyrgulopsis bruesi), an endangered highly vulnerable snail found only in one pool at Fly Ranch.

Fly Ranch Species

Featured Projects

Fly Ranch is a do-ocracy. Anyone can propose, organize, and manage a project. Projects tend to focus on ecology, art, healing, transformation, regeneration, and education. Most projects create public benefit, contribute to a thriving ecosystem, and support a permanent home for Burning Man. Below are some of the installations, events, and programs at the ranch.

You can view a full portfolio here.

Fly Bees

A volunteer project spun off from the Ripple team to care for eight beehives.

Baba Yaga's Tea House

An immersive art experience overlooking the stunning high desert landscape.

Writer's Emerging

A retreat to connect with the land and participate in creative workshops.

PLPT Tule Harvest

Indigenous harvest of tule reed used to make traditional burial mats.

SEED Garden

Symbiotic Coevolution: A vision for a generative future by a LAGI finalist.

BWB Summit

A flagship annual gathering held at Fly Ranch with Burners Without Borders.

Burning Man Sustainability

Burning Man Project CEO Marian Goodell wrote in the Nonprofit's 2019 Annual Report: “Informed by our stewardship of the land and waters at Fly Ranch and the global climate crisis, we created an environmental sustainability roadmap that sets ambitious goals around waste management, ecological impact, and carbon sequestration.” Burning Man's 2030 Sustainability Roadmap has grown into a broad effort that includes Black Rock City, Burners Without Borders, and Regional Network communities and events around the world.

LAGI at Fly Ranch

In 2019 we partnered with the Land Art Generator Initiative and launched LAGI at Fly Ranch, a design challenge focused on regenerative systems for food, power, water, shelter, and waste. We made a global invitation to artists, designers, engineers, and dreamers to propose artworks that inspire wonder and provide foundational infrastructue. Twelve teams have built at Fly Ranch. Lodgers has built at MIT and in Lisbon, Ripple at Pyramid Lake, and the Loop at Borderland.

Shortlist Portfolio
In 2020, 500 people on 185 teams submitted proposals based on the design guidelines. The proposals were reviewed by 200 technical advisors who left 2,000 comments. 50 members of a shortlist committee picked 52 shortlisted projects and 33 jurors selected ten finalists. Each of the shortlisted projects is open for comments. The top ten teams have started prototypes and we hope to build more.
View Portfolio
LAGI Summer Camp
During the last couple weeks of May, 2022, LAGI teams, jurors, advisors, and supporters gathered for a campout. Teams worked on prototypes, research, and connected to the land. Read this article by the LAGI co-founders.
Learn More
LAGI Fly Ranch Book
From the Art Newspaper review:

“Hopefully, Land Art of the 21st Century will inspire action on the climate and ecological emergencies worldwide. The methodologies and design philosophies employed by real-world regenerative structures can be copied. The real value of these land art installations will be that they embody collective, sustainable and inclusive principles. It is through the creation of new ways of organising our societies that we will discover the wisdom to live together in harmony with our home planet.”
Learn More
Order
Lodgers Project
This short film shows the future vision of Lodgers Collective, a top LAGI at Fly Ranch team. The video by Zhicheng Xu showcases a mesmerizing glimpse into the future of the Fly Ranch landscape, brought to life through LiDAR scanned point cloud. The film juxtaposes this futuristic representation with the author’s on-site documentation, capturing the essence of the region’s vibrant ecosystem, birds, rodents, and lush vegetation.
About Lodgers
Ripple Haba Build
During the 2023 Burners Without Borders Campout, Ripple Project built a traditional Northern Paiute shade structure at the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Museum and Visitors Center.
Ripple Haba Build
LAGI at Fly Ranch Call
This call inlcuded the top ten LAGI teams, jurors, and advisors. Hear from USA Today’s Nevada Woman of the Year Autumn Harry, Community Organizer Beverly Harry, Professor Kyle Whyte, Indigenous Women Hike Founder Jolie Varela, Burning Man Co-Founders Will Roger & Crimson Rose, and Dr. Victor Santiago Pineda.

Ethos

The energy that drives Black Rock City seems to be personal freedom, creation, and destruction. The energy that drives Fly seems to be reconnection, healing, and life. We have a chance to prioritize land, to revive culture and ecology. By giving to the land, we heal and reconnect, allowing us to return home inspired to contribute. This film captures the essence of that vision.

Impact & Metrics

$8.8M in Revenue

Since 2016

Fly has generated revenue through restricted donations, capital campaigns, grazing leases, and online donations. Fly was purchased for $6.5M entirely through direct donations, separate from ticket revenue.

$2.7M in costs

Modest Direct Costs

Since 2016 Fly has had direct costs of $2.7M for projects, staff, and infrastructure with a $337K average annual budget. This does not account for interdepartmental costs, borrowed assets, and non-profit administrative costs.

1000+ Nature Walks

Since 2017

Public nature walks on Saturday from March to November.

52 Labyrinth Walks

Every Sunday at 2 PM

Burning Man Cofounders Will and Crimson host walks on Sunday.

30 Community Soaks

Held every Sunday in Season

Stewards, nonprofit staff, and locals relax in geothermal pools.

105 Campouts

For Friends & Family

Rehabilitated junkyards and landfills, restored and studied ecosystems, and experimented with sustainable living.

$1.5M in savings

For BRC water costs

Fly Ranch is the source of water for dust abatement for Black Rock City. Burning Man Nonprofit has avoided at least $1.5M in water costs that would have been paid to the previous owner since 2016.

185 LAGI Proposals

From 496 people worldwide

Sustainable visions for food, water, power, shelter, and waste. Twelve teams have built at Fly, others at Pyramid Lake and MIT.

Eight Beehives

FlyBees, Ripple, & Fly project

Supporting gardens, rewilding, and ecology. Hundreds of pounds of organic honey a year.

150 Cows Grazing

From November to April

Cows fertilize, manage plants, and reduce wildfire risks.

2,000 Stewards

Fly Ranch Members

2,000 members manage the vision, projects, and land.

$10M+ catalyed

Fundraising Support

Fly projects have led to eight-figures in gifts for Burning Man Nonprofit, OFF, "Save the Man, Green the Man, Bring the Man Home", and other capital campaigns.