Welcome Home

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

🎨 The ranch is a Burning Man rural center for interactive arts and community participation.

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

📖 Please read the survival guide when you visit.

Fly is made by those who show up to create it. This includes 600 people who supported the acquisition process, hundred of project leads, and over 2,000 Fly Stewards.

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

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 catalyzed eight figures in gifts for Burning Man Nonprofit.

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

Visit Fly Ranch

Since 2016 we have walked, worked, and studied at Fly. We have found uses for relics from the airport, ranch, and farm. We have cared for the land, installed eight beehives, and grazed 150 cows. We've documented 144 plants, 15 mammals, 138 birds, 12 reptiles, and more animal friends. You can join projects and participate 365 days a year. From April to October Friends of the Black Rock hosts hosts nature walks on Saturdays. Will & Crimson host Sunday Labyrinth walks.

Come take a walk and experience Fly Ranch for yourself.

Camp on site to help monitor and protect the land.

Roll up your sleeves and come volunteer.

For Stewards, Gerlach & Empire locals, and Burning Man Staff

Hosted by Will & Crimson each Sunday at 2 PM.

Open to Fly Ranch Stewards to connect and work on the land

Virtual Tour

Get a sense of the landcape of Fly Ranch.

Take the Tour

Fly Residents

The novel desert ecosystem exists because of the abundant water. The hot springs are home to a metazoan with the highest temperature tolerance of any metazoan and rare photosynthetic microbial mats. The waters are crucial for the eight beehives and the Fly Ranch pyrg (Pyrgulopsis bruesi), an endangered highly vulnerable snail found only in one pool at Fly Ranch.

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.” A documentary by the International Wood Culture Society shows how Burning Man's 2030 Sustainability Roadmap is coming to life on and off playa.

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.

Ethos

The energy that drives Black Rock City seems to be personal freedom, creation, and destruction. Most of the rest seems philosophical. The energy that drives Fly Ranch seems to be reconnection, healing, and life. We have an opportunity to relate to land differently than anywhere elsewhere. We can give to the land, heal ourselves, and reconnect. Then we can go home and connect with and contribute to our communities and the world. This film captures the essence of the project.

Impact & Metrics

$2.3M in Revenue

Net Positive Financially

Since 2016: $2.7M in cost, $2.3M in revenue, and $337K average annual budget. Burning Man has avoided BRC water costs of $1M+. Projects have catalyzed eight figures in gifts for Burning Man Nonprofit.

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.

3 Weekly Staff Soaks

From Golden Spike to Resto

Event staff recharge and connect in Burning Man event season.

103 Campouts

For Friends & Family

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

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.

143 Plant Species

A lush high desert ecosystem

5.6 square miles of wildflowers, playa, and 18 non-native species cared for with restorations, rewilding, and water flows.

26 Fly Art Teams

Focused on the land

The Narwhal, Pier, Baba Yaga's House, Paradisium, and other creative designs inspire awe and deepen connections to land.

136 Types of Birds

A birders paradise

We protect 600 acres of wetlands, restore waterways, and maintain open spaces for eagles, doves, hawks, owls, and ravens.

Fly Ranch Media