Black Bear Ranch
Black Bear Ranch | |
|---|---|
Black Bear Ranch Location map of Black Bear Ranch, United States | |
| Coordinates: 41°14′31″N 123°10′38″W / 41.24184°N 123.17721°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Region | Shasta Cascade |
| Established | 1968 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Land trust |
| • Founder | Richard Marley |
| Area | |
| • Urban | 0 sq mi (0 km2) |
| • Metro | 0 sq mi (0 km2) |
| Population (2013) | |
| 40 | |
| • Urban | 0 |
| • Urban density | 0/sq mi (0/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific Time Zone) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (Pacific Daylight Time) |
| 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 watchword "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 Jonathan 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 steep pocket valley in the Siskiyou Mountains.