Black Bear Ranch
| Black Bear Ranch | |
|---|---|
| Intentional community | |
| Motto: Free Land For Free People | |
 Black Bear Ranch
|
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| Coordinates: 41°14′31″N 123°10′38″W / 41.24184°N 123.17721°WCoordinates: 41°14′31″N 123°10′38″W / 41.24184°N 123.17721°W | |
| Land trust | Black Bear Family Trust |
| Region | Shasta Cascade |
| Government | |
| • Type | Land trust |
| • Founder | Richard Marley |
| Area | |
| • Urban | 0 km2 (0 sq mi) |
| • Metro | 0 km2 (0 sq mi) |
| Population (2013) | |
| • Intentional community | 40 |
| • Urban | 0 |
| • Urban density | 0/km2 (0/sq mi) |
| Time zone | Pacific Time Zone (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7) |
| Website | www |
Black Bear Ranch is an 80-acre intentional community located in Siskiyou County, California, about 25 miles from Forks of Salmon. It was founded in 1968, with the slogan "free land for free people". It has been considered by some participants and commentators to be one of the more radical examples of communal living/intentional communities that grew out of the counterculture of the 1960s.
Before being converted into a commune, it was a ghost town that had been a gold mining settlement in the 1860s. The commune's legal ownership was held by one resident, Richard Marley, until in 1987 it was transferred to the Black Bear Family Trust, which limits development of the property and established trustees to oversee various specified duties. Black Bear Ranch was the subject of the 2005 documentary Commune by Johnathan Berman. The commune still exists today and continues to follow the basic ideals which motivated its founding. At the Summer Solstice Gathering in 2013, there were over 40 residents, the highest population in decades. It is located in a pocket valley in the Siskiyou Mountains.
The motivations behind setting up the commune were, in the words of one of the founders, Richard Marley, to create a:
mountain fortress in the spirit of Che Guevara, where city activists would be able to come up, hide out, practice riflery and pistol shooting, have hand grenade practice, whatever
According to the historian Timothy Miller, the community bought the property for $22,500 using money from a variety of sources including from supporters in the entertainment industry, as well as "one large unexpected angelic gift" and the "proceeds from a major LSD deal". The money from the entertainment industry was obtained through what Stephen Holden in the New York Times describes as "emotional blackmail", quoting Michael Tierra:
You're making money off our lifestyle. It's time you gave back some to us.
Although they struggled at first due to a lack of planning, the community at Black Bear Ranch learned to live self-sufficiently, as the ranch was often snowed in for extended periods during the winter months, and was many hours' drive from the nearest city. The residents managed to gather large quantities of food and medical supplies to see them through the winter and were able to treat a variety of illnesses and medical problems onsite, delivering babies and performing veterinary care. The community homeschooled their children, and maintained tools like chainsaws and cars without a need for mechanics. To raise money to pay for food and supplies, they found work fighting fires in the nearby forests.
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Wikipedia