Black Rock Ranger

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A Black Rock Ranger, riding a Mutant Vehicle during the Nevada Day parade.

A Black Rock Ranger, often referred to simply as a Ranger, is a volunteer non-confrontational community mediator who, along with conventional law enforcement officials, works to maintain order and safety at Burning Man. Rangers are drawn from a broad cross-section of the Burner community, and undergo training to qualify as Rangers. They can be easily identified by their khaki-colored uniforms (typically including a Ranger t-shirt and white hats with the Burning Man logo).

1 About the Black Rock Rangers
2 Rangers outside Black Rock City
3 References
4 External links

[edit] About the Black Rock Rangers

Rangers pride themselves on serving the community in the most unobtrusive and non-confrontational way possible, seeing their role as that of community mediators. As such Rangers differ greatly from the traditional event security personnel found at many large events. The organization was officially formed in 1992. In describing the ideal qualities of a Black Rock Ranger, it has been said that "helpful qualities include a sense of humor, flexibility, integrity, patience, empathy, focus and an unwavering commitment to both the event and the participants who make it happen." Rangers generally wish to be seen as fellow participants in Burning Man rather than outsiders. The role of the Rangers has evolved over time and the more security related tasks (such as Gate and Perimeter) and the specialist medical and fire services have been spun off into separate organizations to preserve the core mediation role.

The Black Rock Rangers are not law enforcement personnel. In addition to the Rangers, Black Rock City is patrolled by the Pershing County Sheriff's Department, the Washoe County Sheriff's Department, the Bureau of Land Management, the Nevada Highway Patrol and others. Rangers do enforce the laws of Black Rock City, such as the ban on commercial vending, fireworks and firearms, and they also work with law enforcement personnel, acting as a buffer between officers and the population of Black Rock City. As the first on the scene of many community disputes or issues, the Rangers are often able to resolve the problem without the involvement of actual law enforcement. However, they do call on police to enforce a small number of evictions from the city and for assistance with a similarly small number of violent incidents at each year's event.

Black Rock Rangers at the LA Decompression

In addition to mediating disputes, Rangers can also be found assisting Burners with giving directions, guarding the man, first aid, structural hazards associated with poor theme camp design, helping lost Burners, and other issues that arise in the harsh environment of the Black Rock Desert. Rangers also staff the Sanctuary, a resource for Burners who are disoriented, grieving, under the influence, or otherwise needing a break from the rigors of the event. Ranger stations can be found at the center of Black Rock City, as well as at the 3:00 and 9:00 plazas (see the main Burning Man article for more on Black Rock City's layout). A number of subgroups within the Rangers oversee different duties; for example, the Dirt Rangers maintain perimeters at fire performances for safety, as well as performing regular foot and bicycle patrols.

[edit] Rangers outside Black Rock City

Many Rangers work throughout the year preparing for the event so that the bulk of the organization can begin work immediately on arrival on the playa. The Ranger Operations group and Ranger Council work together to ensure comprehensive planning occurs long before the event.

Mandatory training for Rangers begins in late spring and continues throughout the summer. Training takes place in San Francisco as well as in a number of regional Burn communities including Seattle, Sacramento, New York, Texas, Maryland and on the Black Rock playa.

First time Rangers who have attended a training arrive on the Playa as "Alpha Rangers" and spend a day shift, or swing shift, walking with two different Rangers from the Mentor Team. The Mentors are tasked with deciding if the Alpha Ranger has the skill set necessary to be a Black Rock Ranger, or if their skills would be better suited to volunteering in a different capacity at the event.

Some of the regional Burning Man events also have Rangers, such as the Pyropolis Rangers of Burning Flipside.