About the NCA

The Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area (NCA), is a unit of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS).  The NCA is located in northwest Nevada, and was established by legislation in 2000.  It is a unique combination of desert playas, narrow canyons, and mountainous areas.

The Great Basin encompasses most of Nevada, the lower third of Idaho, the western half of Utah, the southeast corner of Oregon, and a small portion of northeastern California. The name comes from the geography -- water is not able to flow out and remains in the basin. The Great Basin is a rugged land serrated by hundreds of mountain ranges, dried by wind and sun, and blessed with spectacular skies and scenic landscapes. The Great Basin is sometimes called “the Big Empty.”  It is big, but it isn’t empty. Plants, animals and people have adapted to this region.

The Black Rock-High Rock Country is a land of extremes. Wagon travelers on the Black Rock Playa in the 1840s crawled along at less than two miles per hour.  In the 1990s the world land speed record was set on the playa at over 760 miles per hour.  Surroundings can vary from some of the most primitive, isolated wilderness in the United States to the temporary swarm of humanity at “Black Rock City,” when 40,000 people show up around Labor Day for the annual Burning Man festival. One day the weather may be hot and sunny; the next cold and snowy.

In the 19th century the Black Rock Desert was a desolate, harsh landscape that explorers, gold seekers and pioneers struggled to get through on their way to other destinations. The landscape hasn’t changed – the isolated vastness, the flat, cream-colored playa, the jagged mountains and the high-walled canyons remain the same.  What has changed is the motivation of those who travel here. Today’s travelers to the Black Rock seek what the area offers: watching wild horses, finding solitude, driving fast across the playa, launching high-altitude rockets, and retracing historic trail routes.  Pioneer wagon ruts and historic inscriptions are visible in sections of the Applegate-Lassen emigrant trail from Rye Patch Reservoir, northwest through the Black Rock Desert and Mud Meadows, then west through Fly Canyon and High Rock Canyon, and on to Vya. 

NCA and Wilderness Designation
The Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area Act of 2000 gave special designation to 1.2 million acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in northwestern Nevada known as the Black Rock-High Rock Country. The Act designated 799,000 acres as a national conservation area (NCA) and 752,000 acres as 10 wilderness areas (378,000 of the wilderness acres overlap the NCA). Congress created these special areas specifically to protect 180 miles of historic emigrant trails used by pioneers to travel from the eastern States to Oregon and California in the mid-1800s. Also protected is the surrounding landscape of rugged mountains and high desert that is largely unchanged since those early days of national expansion.  Recreation, hunting, trapping, livestock grazing, commercial events, activities requiring special permits, and previously existing, valid mining all continue in the NCA.

The 10 wilderness areas protect a panoramic landscape forged by the forces of nature along the historic trails and offer visitors vast areas of solitude in which to reestablish ancestral ties to the natural world.  Tent camping, hunting, rock climbing, rockhounding, backpacking, nature study and photography are all pursued in wilderness areas. Motor vehicles, mechanical transport, mountain bikes, chainsaws and other kinds of motorized equipment cannot be used in wilderness. Hiking and horseback riding are the methods of access to wilderness, sometimes with the help of outfitters and guides with BLM permits. 

Primitive and Vast
Just as was true for 19th century emigrants, today’s visitors need to be well prepared in the Black Rock-High Rock Country. In the entire Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area and its associated wilderness areas, encompassing 1,857 square miles – an area the size of the State of Delaware, there are no paved roads and cell phones don’t work.  There are no improved recreation sites in the NCA or wilderness areas.  There are no camper hookups, electrical power or safe drinking water, and very little shade.

There are few road signs, so natural features such as mountains, canyons, distinctive rock formations, playas, and river channels become some of your most important navigational landmarks. It is vital to take maps with you to help orient yourself in relation to these natural landmarks.  Please review the information within the Survival section of this eBook. 

Solitude
For those who seek solitude, few places in the contiguous 48 states can rival the Black Rock-High Rock. With the exception of Gerlach and Empire, which have a combined population of about 350, fewer than a dozen people live year-round in this area.  Most visitors stay near roads and a few favored spots, such as the Black Rock Desert Playa and Soldier Meadows.  It is a place where it is still easy to find a place to be alone.  For total solitude, 10 wilderness areas offer lots of room to wander.