02 Ranch Airport

No official reason is publicly documented as it was a private airfield. The closure was a decision by the ranch's owner. The most common reasons for such closures are a change in ranch ownership, the owner ceasing personal flying activities, or the high costs of maintenance and liability for an airstrip that was no longer needed. It can be broadly categorized as a private decision based on economic factors and changing needs.

The airport is abandoned and completely unusable. Current satellite imagery shows the faint outline of the former runway, but it is heavily overgrown with desert scrub and is slowly reverting to the natural landscape. The site remains undeveloped private property, part of the 02 Ranch, and is used as rangeland.

The 02 Ranch Airport was a private airstrip created to serve the vast and remote 160,000-acre 02 Ranch. Its significance was purely logistical, providing convenient air access for the ranch's owners, staff, and guests, bypassing long drives on rural roads. Operations consisted of private general aviation aircraft, likely single-engine planes, used for transportation and potentially for ranch management tasks such as checking on fences, water sources, and livestock over the expansive property. The airfield featured a single, unpaved north/south runway estimated to be 4,500 feet in length.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the 02 Ranch Airport. Given that it is on private land in a very remote area, any potential reopening would be entirely at the discretion and considerable expense of the current ranch owner for their own private use. It is considered extremely unlikely to be reopened.