“I probably shouldn’t have worn sandals,” I thought as we piled out of two unmarked white vans. We were about 30 minutes from the site where Black Rock City was still being born by thousands of building Burners. I never imagined leaving BRC would be something I’d actually want to do, even during the early arrival days before the event. It wasn’t until I found myself exploring game trails, alien plant life, and mysterious geysers that I came to fully appreciate the potential in Fly Ranch, Burning Man’s newest land acquisition.
This place is almost nothing like the playa. It has water, more than 100 species of plant life, and the 3,800-acre property stretches from the portion of desert where the Burning Man event is held now, all the way to Highway 34. The space has been used by ranchers, miners, water speculators, and for aviation training, so remnants of all those activities are present, including half of an old airplane.
Zoning laws forbid any permanent structures or development on the land but agriculture. The space has two dams, two wells, 90 standing pools (five to 10 of these are great for swimming) and about 640 acres of marshy wetlands, all of which set back Burning Man Project a cool $6.5 million. It’s worth mentioning, however, that not a penny of that came from ticket sales. All the funds were donations, gifts offered with no strings attached, in accordance with Burning Man culture’s principle of Gifting.
Tromping through the terrain, the only signs of humans were a few half-buried shotgun shells, a fence that had been erected to keep cattle from roaming too far, and a little viewing deck semi-circling the most prominent of the three nearest geysers. Each fed into several pools that were teeming with microbial life at the bottom in a thick, stringy murk. The pools were warm near the edges like a hot spring. Our expedition guide, who worked on the Fly Ranch project explained, “These pools can get up to 150 degrees, but the algae continues to survive. Isolated to these pools, this microbial algae dates back about 2,000 years.” It indeed seemed alive, like a descendent of the species that made the evolutionary leap from single-celled to multi-celled organisms. Some of the other attendees even thought this sludge had healing properties, so they rubbed it all over their skin.
As we de-MOOPed our site and prepared to load up into the vans, we circumnavigated the largest geyser and went up close to take some pictures. That’s when we found one of the largest marshy spaces under the geyser had been pummeled with human footprints. You could see where decades of gorgeous multicolored algae had been carelessly and irreparably smeared. “A trespasser came in under the cover of the eclipse to get a photograph with the geyser in it,” the guide explained. “It’s reminded us of the fragility of this ecosystem and our responsibility to protect this space for the animals and life that live here.” His words were punctuated by a family of wild mustangs who looked up to agree from about 15 yards over his shoulder.
But Fly also has enough space and potential to achieve a lot of good for the local community, the scientific community, and for Burning Man. Resting under the temporary shade structure, I realized this hadn’t been a conventional tour with a set path. At one point, Fly Ranch Community & Operations Manager Zac Cirivello pointed at a game trail. Then he gestured toward some wild brush and said to the group, “Which way do you want to go?” as if to encourage a conversation about what path would be the best way to achieve our goal together. When we arrived, our guide explained, “If the world is an ocean, and we’re all floating in groups, Burning Man is like a chance for all these parts of incredible communities to sail together at sea in the same direction, to see how it would be sailed together all the time. Fly Ranch represents the shore.”
“Now that we’ve arrived, what now?”
Loading up into the vans, the group got to talking, and a few ideas surfaced for Fly Ranch. Here are just a few that merited extended discussion.
Destination for Burner Art to Preserve History
Some of the space at Fly Ranch was raised by Will Roger Peterson for the 1997 Burn, which was held at Fly. Also along the stretch of highway, there are numerous spots for landmarks that could mark the space as a haven for all but forgotten art pieces from past Burns. When art doesn’t get burned, it has to go somewhere, and a year-round facility could be the perfect hall of fame to hold space for fallen favorites, community leaders and other characters in the ongoing story of Burner culture.
Educational Workshops + Seminars to Bring New Skills Into Our Community
Learning is such an important part of the Burner experience, and whether it’s “Leaving No Trace” or “Radical Self-reliance,” each of the principles of the ethos of Burning Man implore a learning experience not found in universities or colleges. Permaculture programs, eco-friendly construction, and waste diversion concepts could all be advanced at the site with the right infrastructure. Burners Without Borders Program Manager Christopher Breedlove suggested taking this a step further and using the space as a foundry for art that could be sold as a source of revenue generation, inspired by other land-based projects such as Cosanti and Arcosanti. Breedlove also imagines the space as a gathering place for future Burners Without Borders activities, like leadership development curriculums, or a “Without Borders” Conference.
Energy Farm for a Carbon Neutral Burning Man
With hot, level planes perfect for solar panels, windstreams to turn turbines and geothermal pressure to create steam, Fly Ranch has plenty of energy potential. If harnessed, Fly Ranch could produce enough power to offset the onsite energy costs of the annual event, or in the off-season, excess power could be sold back into the grid for a carbon neutral Burning Man.
Research and Development Lab for Composting and Waste Diversion
Porta-potties are a chief source of waste at Burning Man, and if people are going to visit Fly Ranch, even for a little while, they should have some place to use the bathroom. Composting toilets enable hu-manure to be diverted from the wastestream to become a lucrative resource useful to farmers. Different types of algae can be used in composting toilets, too. Some even produce hydrogen that can be a source of power! Is it possible that Fly Ranch can unleash Burning Man’s untapped potential with the power of poo? It’s already begun. There’s now a composting toilet on site made from reclaimed materials, complete with solar shower, and it catches all the gray water.
Nature Preserve with Rare Landscape Services
Perhaps the most important of the ideas circling Fly Ranch at this time concern protection and preservation of the wildlife. From tiny microbes to rare plant species, all the way to birds, critters, deer and mountain lions, the ecosystem at Fly Ranch is like a window into primordial history of incalculable worth. Of all the ideas circulating, there seemed to be the most consensus and appreciation around a nature preserve concept for Fly Ranch. The Fly Ranch stewards are exploring this already, starting by mapping invasive plant species.
Heading back to what would soon be Burning Man, dust rose behind us in plumes. I looked out the window at the acres between us and “home” at the edge of the property. It reminded me that taking the ethos of Burning Man outside the playa may be possible — and local communities as well as Burning Man may be better for it. In the remote dust-world of Black Rock City, it’s easy to forget our responsibility toward plants and creatures of this world. That’s why symbiosis with the wild will be key for any of the aforementioned initiatives to be attractive to Burners beyond BRC. For instance, a wind farm wouldn’t make sense if it disturbed the native golden eagle population. A hydroelectric plant wouldn’t be consistent with the ideals of Burning Man if building it destroyed the home of indigenous minnows in the local watering holes. While it’s true that conservation efforts are costly, the adjacent space to the property is a national conservation area, lending credence to the idea that Fly Ranch has something worth holding onto — even at a cost.
These are just a few of the ideas percolating to the surface. There are other tours and more folks exploring this space with the guidance of Burning Man Project’s Fly Ranch team. You can find info about all of that and contact the team on the Fly Ranch website, and see details about the history of the land, maps describing zoning of the property, and photos of everything found at the site in the all-summer-long super-fine-tooth-combed mega MOOP sweep.
How do you think Burners can best build a future at Fly Ranch? Let us know in the comments below. For more stories from the land, visit the Fly Ranch section of the Burning Man Journal.
Timely post, visiting Fly Ranch this weekend. Excited to see what vision will come from the site.
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Fly Ranch is a heavily manipulated and impacted area, not a pristine “wilderness”. As such, it’s a good place to ask questions about biodiversity. Questions like: how important is it to cling to native species in a landscape that was dry desert until the wells were dug? Can we increase biodiversity, making this a hotspot for transiting birds and an island for less mobile animals? What are the outside inputs for an oasis like this? How do humans fit into an ecosystem like this without doing what we always do: reduce complexity? Can our human inputs (like the potties) actually improve the productivity of the land and the complexity of the species palette? Are there creative new ways to draw water, energy, food, and other resources from this land without degrading it?
And for crying out loud, get rid of that most destructive invasive species: the majestic “wild” horse. Someone let them loose in the desert 150 years ago–that doesn’t make them noble and worth preserving. Round them up, sell them off, and be done with it.
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I had a wonderful trip to see Fly Ranch a few months ago. I have to say though, the whole experience had a bait and switch feel to it. When purchasing the property was proposed it seemed the idea was to use the property to promote Burning Man philosophy year round. A retreat center was discussed as well as a home for an experimental community based on burner principles. Once there we found out it was zoned in such a way as to make it nearly impossible to build on the property, so those ideas don’t seem viable. As of now it seems the intention is to keep it as some sort of nature preserve, even though very few of the features of the property seem to be unimpacted by human activity. The most prominent feature of the property, the geyser, is man made and requires human intervention to keep going. I’m all for nature preserves and I’m sincerely hoping that’s how the project was sold to those who made the contributions to purchase the property, but I have no idea how the purchase of this property does anything to promote and expand the principles of Burning Man. I suppose we could just leave it alone and say “look, we’re leaving no trace” but is that all this is going to be? If so, it seems a little disappointing.
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Fly Ranch and the Burning Man Nevada lands are an opportunity for community evolving over years. What is the 100 year plan? What is the 1, 5 10 year plan? How are you engaging neighborhood property owners and land use entities?
In addition to Arcosanti, consider looking at the models and artist residencies of The Center For Land Use Interpretation, Desert Test Sites, Signal Fire and the D’Jerassi Foundation.
It may be that the conference center can be built on the work ranch parcel and it may be that someday the BLM will dispose of land to the West.
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How are you working with the local Pyramid Lake reservation/Hualapai tribes in your plans for this beautiful place? There must be a lot of history here, it would be good to acknowledge this and record it somehow, as well as perhaps learn from it.
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Hmmm….how to create diversity, educate people, maintain the land in a responsible way, create a flow of resources that allow the ranch to “pay” for itself, and do this all with the local’s approval as well as the government? Simple, grow something there.
Greenhouses built as “temporary structures” (there are a million different ways to get away with that one) producing what can be grown in such a climate. I live in New Mexico, and in a very simular climate, there is everything from fruit orchids to wine vineyards to full-blown organic farms.
The greenhouses can be used as platforms for solar panels, acting as shade for the plants that need it while also producing power. The locals are already familiar with Black Rock Solar, so it shouldn’t take too much convincing to get them to see the merit of having them on Fly Ranch.
The environmentalists will have little to complain about, as you’ll be growing things without destroying anything (except maybe some ground space that has some grass growing on it. “But that poor grass!!, you can’t trample the poor grass!! You monster!”) Send them home with some organic veggies, that’ll shut em up.
If it was up to me I would have grapes growing in a year (yes, there are a number of grapes that will grow there, I know, I helped plant a mile of them here in NM) and have Official Burning Man Wine bottled and ready to “gift” within a season or two. Just think of how happy the Google brothers would be to get a case of it. Chances are, a good portion of the gifted money that bought the Ranch was from them anyway.
If you want to argue (or better yet, debate) the sustainability of growing food on that land, first Google “desert farming”. Then, let’s chat. The land is zoned for it, you can hire locals to help with it (and let’s face it, employment opportunities for people living out there that do not involve a commute to Reno are a godsend) and there is water.
Hell, you want to get kinky with it? Let’s make part of the farm automated with robotics as an education/experimental spearhead into the future of agriculture. Musk would probably jump on that project.
I can go on all day, but I think you get the idea.
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