Our story
We are an environmental educational non-profit 501(c)(3) that provides the southwestern United States with skills essential to creating sustainable human settlements and authentic experiences in the natural world.
We are a demonstration site
showcasing a
balance
of Sustainable
desert living
systems
Affordable Earthen Building
Earthbag Domes
Strawbale
Cob
Rammed Earth
Vaults
Natural Plasters & Finishwork
Off Grid Desert Living
Water Catchment
Grey water Basins
Composting Toilet Systems
Solar power
Appropriate Native Planting
Who
The
The Mojave Center is in all of us.
Without you, there is no us.
We are a collective of individuals from different cultures, perspectives and representations of life. Together we share the natural world as our common denominator. Together we manifest a unique representation of life on planet earth.
Ian
Zatarain
Nicolette Wagner
Founder
Executive Director, Outdoor Educator, Permaculture Designer, Watershed Management Design Graduate, Wilderness First Responder, BS Tourism + Outdoor Leadership, AA Cultural Anthropology/Archaeology & Lead Building Instructor.
Founder
Program + Marketing Director,
Creative Designer, BS in Drafting & Design, Staff Photographer, Event Coordinator & Lead Building Instructor
Staff
Jared Posey
Madeline Cole
Chris Parilli
Superadobe Instructor
Mojave Center Apprentice 2021
Natural Building Instructor
Mojave Center Apprentice 2022
Natural Building Instructor
South America Build 2022
THE
WHY
Our ultimate goal behind the Mojave Center is to inspire a meaningful and lasting bond to our natural world. Through tactful skills, natural materials and creation from our own hands, we hope reconnect individuals to the beauty and importance of open and wild spaces.
TangIble skills for a better future
How can we build more appropriately for our given environment while lowering our carbon footprint and using the local materials around us? This is one of the questions we are answering at the Mojave Center. We demonstrate various ways to build with natural materials for different environments. Additionally, we saw a need to teach practical building skills. Simple and intuitive building techniques mastered only by the touch of your own hand, this is the connection we are striving to bridge.
reconnection to natural & wild Spaces
There is a beauty to finding life in a place that is known for being barren and vast, Death Valley. Our expansive desert provides so much when you know where to look. We are nourished with hidden desert oasis’s, colorful clays, wildlife and fauna only known to our corner of the Southwest. Our Mojave Center’s location was chosen with this in mind. Isolated from cities and perfectly placed in the remote Mojave Desert, we wanted to encourage a unique reconnection to open and wild desert spaces.
Form a collective
We are not in this alone. In order to make substantial change among the common norm, we know we must work in numbers. Every year we gather more students who are interested in this intuitive knowledge. Over 200 like minded students have passed through the Mojave Center. We hope their gained knowledge has made an impact in their own personal lives to then expand further into their own communities. You are not in this alone!
The
Where
Near Death Valley, Ca
The Mojave Center is located in a quiet area on the Nevada & California Border in the heart of the Mojave Desert. We are 1 hour West of Las Vegas, NV & 30 minutes south of Pahrump, NV. We live right on the Old Spanish Trail, a time capsule of the westward expansion in 1776.
There's much to explore in our neighborhood. Be sure to plan plenty of time to experience the Mojave Desert.
Just to name a few...
x Tecopa Hot Springs
x China Ranch Date Farm
x BLM behind China Ranch
x Death Valley
x Ash Meadows Nature Preserve
x Red Rocks Conservation Area
x Dumont Dunes
x Mojave Preserve
x Valley of Fire
x Lower Colorado
x Lake Mead
x Arizona Hot Springs
x Gold Strike Hot Springs
