Ron's Log

David Best Explains The Temple And Asks For Money

The fundraising effort for this year's Temple of Juno at Burning Man has kicked off. They've got 45 days to raise $30,000.

Contribute here.

Gleanings From The 2012 Burning Man Environmental Process

Last month I learned that we were in the open comment period for the preliminary environmental assessment for a 5-year permit for Burning Man to take place on BLM land in the Black Rock Desert. The comment period ended April 16, 2012. A little poking reveals that I have been mis-informed. Apparently the 5-year permit with a maximum headcount of 60,000 that they talked about never got through the whole process, so in 2011 we operated under a single year permit with a maximum headcount of 50,000. Now they are seeking a permit for 2012-2016 with a max headcount of 58,000, rising to 70,000.

I started poking through the linked documents and found some interesting things - and by "interesting things" I don't mean I found the secret clause about a nuclear power plant buried under the Man - I only mean I found them interesting to me.

Here's the preliminary environmental assessment for 2012-16 (PDF, 16.5 MB, 328 pages). But before I get into that, some history and background are in order.

This page has links to BLM documents for the 2006-10 permit as well as for 2011.

2006-2010

The 2006-10 permit explains that the The Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area was created in 2000 and the legislation includes this language: "It is expected that such permitted events will continue to be administered in accordance with the management plan for the conservation area and other applicable laws and regulations." BLM interprets that to mean that Congress expects that things like Burning Man will continue there. There are, however, no things "like" Burning Man, except Burning Man.

In 1990 there were 250 attendees at Burning Man. It was 1997 that Burning Man moved for just one year to Hualapai Flat in Washoe County. In 1998 and 1999 it returned to the Black Rock Desert, but it was only about 4 miles from Gerlach. Possibly due to complaints of patchouli contamination, the event was moved to an area about 8.5 miles away from Gerlach.

Here's an interesting paragraph from the 2006-10 permit:

Issues not Considered in this Assessment
Several comments raised the issue of the event's morality. Morality is not an environmental issue and is "in the eye of the beholder." Everyone within the event is a participant or is involved in administration or support operations, has chosen to be at the event, and paid for a ticket. The event site is closed to non-participants who might be offended by activities within the event.

The event is in Nevada. While no open gambling or prostitution goes on in Black Rock City, somebody is still concerned about "morality."

For the period 2006-10 the BLM proposed to limit the headcount to 40,000 people. The "residential portion" of Black Rock City is estimated to cover 820 acres. 8,000 acres surrounding the city would be placed off limits to camping. In addition to that, 18,000 acres would be off limits to the use of firearms.

The Burning Man organization proposed a limit of 50,000 people with a "residential portion" of 900 acres. The area within the pentagonal trash fence would cover 2,990 acres.

Burning Man is required to provide only two water trucks...but there are definitely more than that.

Clean-up of highway 447 all the way to Wadsworth (I-80) is required. The road does accumulate quite a of little during Burning Man, but the greatest volume of that appears to be due to car accidents, flipped trailers, etc. - not the sort of casual littering you see on most highways.

A little table in the permit clarifies that the area for Burning Man is not an environmental justice area, not farmland, has no noxious weeds, and is not a wild & scenic river. It does, however, have cultural resources and presents Native American concerns.

"Air quality at the event location is high except during periods of localized dust storms." That's what the government official said.

Cultural Resources The Black Rock Desert is rich in cultural resources. Historic events within the NCA helped to mold and change the course of American History. One major driving force behind the designation of the NCA and Wilderness was the protection of the viewshed of the Applegate-Lassen Trail, one of largest intact emigrant trails left in the U.S. Several other historic trail routes cross the Black Rock Desert. The 1843-1844 John C. Fremont exploration party passed through the Black Rock Desert traveling south along the Black Rock Range to Great Boiling Springs near present-day Gerlach. Another major emigration route, the Nobles Trail, also crossed the playa. No traces of the Nobles Route remain in the vicinity of the proposed event site. During 1909, the Western Pacific Railroad built a transcontinental railroad along the southern edge of the Black Rock Desert, and the first US transcontinental telephone line also followed this route. In 1926, a portion of the silent film "The Winning of Barbara Worth" [!] was filmed on the playa about 10 miles from the event, and features and artifacts from the early movie set still remain. During World War II and into the 1950's the Black Rock Desert served as a gunnery range for the military. Old military bullets and cartridge casings can still be found on the playa. The 2006-2008 events would be located approximately 16.5 miles from the Applegate-Lassen Trail and adjacent to the 1852 and 1856 Nobles Routes. No artifacts are known from the proposed permit area. The event would be a temporary intrusion into the trail's viewshed and would not be an effect.

The Native American concerns are pretty much the same as the concerns anyone who lived along highway 374 would have. These residents just happen to be Native Americans. Traffic and trash. As of the time of this report (2005) Burning Man had contributed about $100,000 to the Pyramid Lake Tribe.

Waste from the porta-potties was being taken 10 miles north to land owned by Burning Man. There is was treated and "injected ... into the soil under applicable federal, state and local permits."

The nearest endangered species is more than 40 miles away from the Burning Man site.

In 2005 there were 191,300 visitor days on the Black Rock Desert - 189,000 (98.8%) were from Burning Man.

Pershing County had a total population of 5,607 in 2005 (not counting Black Rock City). In 2010 it had increased to 6,753.

Washoe County, on the other hand, includes Reno and had a population of 380,000 in 2005. In the 2010 census that figure was 421,407.

In 2005 the operating budget of Burning Man was $7.3 million. More than $4 million of that was spent in northern Nevada. Burners themselves were estimated to spend $10 million in northern Nevada.

From 2002 through 2004 Burning Man contributed $300,000 to civic causes in Nevada including the Gerlach volunteer fire department and the senior citizen's center and repair of the Gerlach water tower.

The fee paid to BLM by Burning Man in 2005 was $710,000. This was calculated at $4 per person per day. $300,000 of that fee was spent by BLM in northern Nevada to support administration of Burning Man. (You'll see scads of BLM vehicles in Gerlach during Burning Man).

BLM has made random counts at the entrance gate to calculate an average of 1.9 people per vehicle entering Burning Man. Using that figure they estimate 19,000 vehicles on the playa when there are 40,000 attendees at Burning Man.

"In 2005 there were 2,525 participants with northern NV zip codes, 31 of these participants were from the Gerlach-Empire area." I would estimate those 31 people constituted about half of the population of Gerlach-Empire.

"Burning Man's efforts to encourage participants to stay at the event by charging a re-entry fee and stationing a hot spring 'steward' at each of the nearby hot springs to discourage participant use have been documented to decrease use at hot springs." So my visit to Black Rock Hot Spring was not just government make-work! I had a purpose!

BLM estimates that less than 20 gallons of oil leaks out of engines onto the playa. "This material would be readily absorbed in the top layer of sediment and then volatilized, dispersed as a film in the intermittent lake surface or photo-degraded within a relatively short period of time."

"A small percentage of the participants dispose of gray water on the playa. This activity is prohibited by BLM and BRC, but still infrequently occurs. The major component of gray water is likely to be soaps and detergents used in dish washing and bathing. These materials readily break down in the sunlight and pose insignificant impacts."

Without Burning Man, about 5% of the playa surface is subject to "surface disturbances" that break it up and allow wind to blow it as dust. They calculate that the entire residential area of Burning Man would be disturbed as well as one-third of the remainder of the area within the pentagonal trash fence. Add it all up, and less than 5% of the playa surface is disturbed.

Coins left on the surface of the playa in Black Rock City show wind erosion can remove up to 5mm of the surface. This is one reason the BLM requires the location of the city to be moved each year, so that sediments can begin to refill the depression left by the city.

BLM estimates that about 2,000 Burners return to the Black Rock Desert at other times of the year.

2011

Burning Man 2011 Special Recreation Permit Stipulations [PDF, on,y 8 pages]. The 2011 permit limited the population to 50,000.

The 2011 Operating Plan (PDF, 1.4 MB, 57 pages).

In 2011 the city was 9,460 feet in diameter, or 1.8 miles. They claim the road length from pavement to the gate was only 1.5 miles. That means I traveled it at an average of 0.375 MPH on entry, or 0.43 MPH at exit. Odd, my sense was that exiting was much slower than entering.

Below is a map of the "closure area" - the crosshatched area. That's the area that's strictly Burning Man's territory during the period of the permit.

It also shows the two locations for the city itself. Although the two areas overlap, the residential areas do not, and those areas are where the greatest disturbance of the playa occurs. I learned from this map that the 2010 pentagon was smaller than the other years - even though 2010 set attendance records, requiring a few new roads to be added to the residential area at the last minute.

4 O'Clock and 10 O'Clock Roads line up on true north-south.

The map shows the East Playa Road which I didn't know about until the 2011 event. When they took us out to the hot springs we crossed the East Playa Road, which is just a lot of vehicle tracks, mostly in the same place. BLM rules required our driver to slow down and look both ways before crossing the East Playa Road, which seemed a bit silly since there are few vehicles and you can see for miles. But out on the playa, it is quite possible that someone on a motorcycle would decide to take the East Playa Road at 150 MPH or faster, and even a little bit of dust could obstruct your view of his approach.

The BLM permit allows crews to go in on August 1 to start work. All above ground structures have to be removed within 14 days after the event (September 19, 2011). Final clean up must be completed within one month (October 5, 2011). So those are the extreme dates of the permit: August 1 to October 5.

Leave No Trace:

Burning Man is the largest Leave No Trace event in the world. The event's cleanup record has become the model to which the BLM holds other users of public lands. Burning Man volunteers have contributed an estimated 400 person-hours to the cleanup of non-Burning Man related sites in the Black Rock Desert, and have participated in the Reno Earth Day festival every year since 1998. Currently, Burning Man holds a board position with the "Friends of the Black Rock," a non-profit group dedicated to the preservation of the Black Rock Desert. Also, Burning Man is heavily involved in the BLM's Resource Advisory Council in planning the future of the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area.

At 3:15 PM daily, there is meeting between BLM and Burning Man where Burning Man provides attendance figures to BLM.

Commercial activity is banned not just by Burning Man, but by BLM as well.

"BRC [Black Rock City] will develop and implement a plan to address exposing minors to adult activities at the event. The plan should include measures such as educating and requiring parents/guardians to supervise their children, zoning the city, and making every effort to educate adult related theme camps about the need for having a gatekeeper during hours when the camp might not be suitable for minors. BRC will make a diligent effort to enforce actions identified in the plan." On the streets of Black Rock City, this means we all respect Kid Zone (and any other family designated zones, if there are any), and sexually themed activities are not conducted in full view of the street.

Tow trucks. There's your magic loophole to get into Burning Man without a ticket. Tow trucks are the only civilian, non-official-Burning Man vehicles allowed into Black Rock City without a ticket. Yes, your tow truck will have to be a genuine, official tow truck from that region of Nevada, but there must be dozens of them. True, the tow truck driver will probably have to show some sort of evidence that he's been called to a specific location to help get somebody's vehicle moving, but I think it's unlikely that the security at the gate will have reliable means to verify that, short of hopping on board the tow truck to ride along, and I don't think they waste security personnel on stuff like that. The only question is how much space have you got on your tow truck where you could smuggle someone in, and how diligently would security search your tow truck. I don't think there's any possibility of using a tow truck to bring in illegal substances, because I'm sure that in Nevada that would mean the driver would lose his truck and business. But for smuggling in a couple of Reno babes for a night of sightseeing on the playa, a tow truck is the way to go.

BLM requires Burning Man to place at least two fire trucks on the playa. Actually three are provided, one for each fire station.

There are about 900 toilets, which translates to about 55.5 people per toilet. The actual number is lower, because people with RVs can use their own toilets.

The fee to BLM for 2011 was 3% of the adjusted gross income of Burning Man. In 2010 this fee was $1,235,000.

Below is a map of the air services area of Black Rock City:

I did not know until I saw this map that there is a designated ultralight runway area outside of the regular airfield. Also didn't know that there was a designated landsailing area, nor that it was near the airport. I usually see landsailing west of the city, but there's always a chance of collision with pedestrians and cyclists out there. The designated area is outside the trash fence, so I suppose any windsailer has to carry his or her ticket with him.

And I suppose it makes sense to put the medevac landing site out there, too. I guess I had imagined it would be in the central area, probably near Center Camp, but now that I think about it, Burners would regard the sight of an approaching helicopter as just another exciting Burning Man event. Crowds would undoubtedly gather and try to jump aboard. I wouldn't be surprised if a hundred counterfeit gurneys came out of the woodwork with costumed Burners aboard. No, better to put it out by the airfield.

Class G uncontrolled airspace extends up to 14,500 feet over the Black Rock Desert.

2012-2016

The preliminary environmental assessment for 2012-16 (PDF, 16.5 MB, 328 pages).

Map of the surrounding areas. Reno/Sparks is visible in the lower left. The blue line outlines the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The yellow blob is the Burning Man "closure area," the area over which Burning Man has control during the event. The small reddish blot in the yellow blob is Black Rock City itself, the site of Burning Man.

A 43-day scoping period was conducted from November 1, 2010, to December 13, 2010. A long list of issues generated by that begin on page 17 of the environmental assessment.

In 2011 the Burning Man organization rented 34 generators. In addition, there were 213 generators used with art projects. On top of that add 1,124 generators for theme camps.

They say that the radius of the city will be 3,250 feet, or about two-thirds what it was in 2011. I don't think these figures are correct. The map shows a radius of about 5,000 feet.

They estimate that 26% of the vehicles coming to Burning Man will be RVs and motorhomes; 65% will be pickups, vans, SUVs, and just plain cars; the rest are medium- or heavy-duty trucks and buses...plus one pirate ship. 70,000 people will generate 44,800 round trips.

There will be as many as 14 water trucks - a much more realistic number than the two mentioned above. The water trucks get their water at Fly Ranch, which is owned by Burning Man. They take about 6 million gallons of water, which is 8,021.4 HCF. If it was Mission Springs Water, that would cost $13,957.22 at the construction water price. Using residential drinking water prices it would be $14,674.81.

With a population of 58,000 there are 55 miles of roads. When the population grows to 70,000 the roads will increase to 60 miles.

The whole EA compares three scenarios: 1) let it get bigger; 2) keep it the same size; 3) make it go bye-bye. There are other alternatives which they eliminated from consideration: move it to private land, move it to some other BLM location, rotate the city from year to year, split up the festival into smaller festivals and spread the impact over a period of time, limit the attendance at an "arbitrary" cap, limit attendance based on winter water on the playa [true science!], alternate years with some other site not on the Black Rock Desert - it seems the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe brought this idea forward.

Minimum age limits were ruled out, saying "The Burning Man event complies with all laws and regulations, none of which require an age restriction." There ya go. Black and white.

Holey-moley, one suggestion was move the entrance road over to the Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way. Only two very minor obstacles to that one: 1) Union Pacific, and 2) crossing a live railroad where the trains are permitted to run at FULL speed and there are NO automatic crossing warnings. It'll be like playing billiards except the balls are RVs full of people and the cue stick is a Union Pacific freight at top speed. Get your videocam ready.

Dinner conversation tonight: "In 2011, the 8-day event generated a total of 545,000 gallons of effluent which included all grey water and black water generated by infrastructure, portable toilets, commissary, showers, and café as well as all the RVs that were serviced." That is only 41 quarts per Burner for 8 days. Try that at home!

Now the effluent is no longer treated at Fly Ranch. They haul it to the Washoe County Waste Treatment Center. That sounds a little safer to me.

RVs (and the like) have to haul out their gray water - well, everybody has to haul out their own gray waters. There are a couple of RV tank pumpers that wander the city and clean out for a cash dollar fee. That is the one other commercial activity that is either permitted, or totally ignored, or maybe required by Nevada public health laws. Anyway this: "After the 2011 event the Gerlach Fire Department found a 35-gallon trash can of human waste along the access roads and filed a report with the Nevada Health Department."

Fire Department Report

In 2010 there were 39 calls for service. 100% of those were for fire! I say send Karl Baker to Burning Man to study the efficiency of the ambulance and fire services there, and bring back ideas for our city. BTW, those 39 calls were a 56% decrease from the year before. Safety third!

Satellite imagery tells us the maximum depth of water on the winter playa has been 3.3 feet. I imagine, however, that was originally something metric.

Chromium (all chromium, I suppose) in the water from Fly Ranch is less than 0.0050 mg/L. Somebody convert that to the currently popular PPB, please.

"Groundwater in the Public Closure Area varies seasonally and is at most five to 10 feet below the surface." Cripes! One Burner had told me we were just sitting on top of a thin crust of dried mud, but I didn't know it was that thin.

In 2005 the unemployment rate on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe reservation was 51%!

Mr. Wayne Burke, Tribal Chairman, stated the following before the Nevada State Senate Select Committee on Economic Growth and Employment:

Allowing Tribe members to become vendors to the Burning Man Festival will bring money into the Tribe. We can offer resources to assist Tribe members to do that. We are looking to have our current law and order code pass through the Tribal Council. When it is passed, we will be able to receive traffic citation fines.

The Tribal Planner put his name on this statement:

The Tribe is proud of our partnership with Black Rock Solar, the fund-raising arm of the Burning Man Festival. Using the solar demonstration systems program that the State Legislature approved, we have been able to construct eight solar projects on the reservation. This has led to substantial savings for the Tribe. For example, the community of Nixon has more solar panels per person than any other community in the United States. State Route 447 has more solar panels per mile than any other road in the United States and has been declared "America's Solar Highway." We are looking to expand our solar projects into commercial-sized projects.

"A Temporary Food Establishment permit is required if a party wishes to share, cook or serve food or beverage to the general Burning Man population or a party will be cooking or serving food to more than 125 people in the theme camp on a consistent basis."

The Department Of Human Resources, Health Division, Public Health And Clinical Services, Environmental Health has prepared this very helpful 6-page PDF on the subject of Burning Man Food Service. Your tax dollars at work. The Nevada State Health Department "will make every attempt to inspect each permitted food establishment." Oh ho! I want that job.

A health department permit is not required if you are handing out "foods that are commercially pre-packaged, individually packaged/packaged by serving and non-temperature sensitive, each of these criteria must be met. These foods include candy, bags of chips or pretzels, cans of soda, bottled water, whole and unbreached apples & oranges, etc." Breach not your apples, your oranges, nor any fruit of the tree, whether it is grown for food or is merely decorative.

A permit is required if you are pouring "Juice, if big gallons are bought and poured because there is food handling and once opened the juice is temperature sensitive and must be kept cold." You know, those big gallons, which are bigger than small gallons, but smaller than really generous gallons.

Ask "each volunteer if they feel nauseous, have a cough or cold, vomiting, diarrheal disease, fever, open sores or jaundice."

That "non-potable" thing: "Visitors are given notice that the water in the trucks is non-potable and could result in an illness. However, visitors do run after vehicles and are often sprayed by the water trucks." Dealt with. Done and done.

Socialized Medicine (free fluoride suppositories!)

In 2011:

• 2,307 patient contacts (50% down from 2010)
• 33 patients required medical transport back to the other world (2 of those happened before "scheduled ambulance deployment" (so it had to happen early on in set up, right?)
• 5 of those transports were by air
• In 2010 31% of the patients were seen for minor injuries (blisters or cuts)
• Only 17 traffic accidents were reported on the roads leading to Burning Man - during the entire event, I'm sure they mean. I would have thought it was higher, just guessing from the fairly fresh remains of accidents I see on that highway.

The Gerlach Volunteer Fire Department has 4 or 5 members. They bring in 5 more for July through September. Maybe July is just a busier time for non-Burner tourism.

The assessment includes the ten core guiding concepts of Burning Man. There should be an eleventh: becoming one with the dust.

"A population of more than 25 silver-haired bats was recorded on the playa," but they don't roost on the playa, since there is no roostable site. "Wild horses sometimes graze between Gerlach and the playa entrance."

A map of the "Visual Resources - Affected Environment" which I think means places where you can see Black Rock City and places that can be seen by Black Rock City. The pale violet area is the 12-mile buffer viewshed. I think it's a 12-mile diameter circle interrupted by mountains. You'll see Black Rock Point in the far upper right with a campground near it. I believe those are the Black Rock Hot Springs where I spent a day last year. I could make out the top of the temple and the cloud of dust caused by the city, but that was all.

The Calico Mountains Wilderness is about 30 miles north of Gerlach, but only 5.7 miles from the public closure area. Burning Man itself is visible from parts of the wilderness and could be audible there as well. They estimated noise levels of both traffic and the cacophony of Black Rock City itself. They were conservative (i.e., they overestimated the noise) and assumed the maximum traffic noise would occur at the same time as the maximum roar of the city, which would not actually occur in reality. At the wilderness boundary the ambient noise level is 30.5 dBA - with 70,000 Burners doing their thing the noise level would rise to 52.7 dBA. In the town of Gerlach the noise level would rise from 45.1 dBA to 67.2 dBA. "Participants usually report being able to have a normal volume conversation near the perimeter of the event at any given time." Other places the volume would not be so "normal." Interference with human speech begins at 60 dBA. The overall difference between 58,000 Burners and 70,000 Burners is about 0.8 dBA.

One local tribal member estimated that his business received one-third of its annual gross income during Burning Man.

52% of Burners come from California.

An analysis found no statistically discernible change in gaming revenues in the time period surrounding Burning Man.

They looked at public safety staffing in the Gerlach fire department and the Pershing and Washoe Counties Sheriff's Offices, comparing a 58,000-Burner event with a 70,000 Burner event. The larger event would require two more personnel in the Washoe County Sheriff's Office, but no other change. Total cost difference is only $11,491 for public safety personnel.

Participants to the event are not allowed to run after the water trucks which are clearly marked non-potable. Participants are given notice that the water in the trucks is non-potable and could result in an illness. Partici-pants do frequently run after vehicles and are sprayed by the water trucks. Contaminants found in the Fly Ranch water source above the maximum contaminant level for drinking water include E. coli, fluoride, antimony, and arsenic all of which can result in potential health effects from long-term exposure.

E. coli is the only one of those that might be a risk for those chasing the water trucks. I'd like to see some numbers on the health risks of the porta-potties before I worry about E. coli in the water trucks.

Playa dust includes gypsum and silica.

9% of Burners consider themselves to be a person of color. 11% "sometimes" consider themselves to be a person of color. I have never heard that particular qualification before. I don't know if the 9% is included in the 11% or if those are two separate groups, which would mean 20% of Burners might be people of color (sometimes or always). The average income for Burning Man participants is $72,000. 15% of Burners have income below poverty level.

Pershing County brings on 32 to 34 temporary personnel during Burning Man. In addition they add 3 Jeeps and 3 OHVs to their fleet of vehicles.

The report estimates that with a population of 58,000, only 9,171 vehicles would enter on Monday (day 1 of the event). That seems small. I'm pretty sure I've been passed by at least that many vehicles while waiting to enter. On Sunday, the day before the event opens 4,690 vehicles would enter. On Sunday, the day after the Burn itself, 213 vehicles would enter, but 14,094 would exit. On Monday, Labor Day, after the Temple burn 16,967 vehicles would exit. Next only 4,000 exit.

Just the ground travelers : 85% come from west on I-80. 50% come from further west on I-80 past 395. 35% come from south on 395 (that would be me). Wow, actually 25% take the Pyramid Highway to get between I-80 and 447. I had no idea that many did it that way. It's on my list of things to do.

Currently the level of service (LOS) on roads going to Burning Man never falls below "D." Here's a definition of level D from Wikipedia:

Speeds slightly decrease as the traffic volume slightly increase. Freedom to maneuver within the traffic stream is much more limited and driver comfort levels decrease. Vehicles are spaced about 160 ft(50m) or 8 car lengths. Minor incidents are expected to create delays. Example of LOS D is perhaps the level of service of a busy shopping corridor in the middle of a weekday, or a functional urban highway during commuting hours. It is a common goal for urban streets during peak hours, as attaining LOS C would require a prohibitive cost and societal impact in bypass roads and lane additions.

And this is level E (next step worse):

Flow becomes irregular and speed varies rapidly because there are virtually no usable gaps to maneuver in the traffic stream and speeds rarely reach the posted limit. Vehicle spacing is about 6 car lengths, however speeds are still at or above 50 mi/h(80 km/h). Any disruption to traffic flow, such as merging ramp traffic or lane changes, will create a shock wave affecting traffic upstream. Any incident will create serious delays. Driver's level of comfort becomes poor. LOS E is a common standard in larger urban areas, where some roadway congestion is inevitable.

IMO, driving in on Monday morning the LOS is E, mostly because there are some older RVs that simply cannot go much faster with 50 MPH with their full loads. Exiting on Labor Day does flow pretty well, once we get past Gerlach. But that assumes you can keep a steady wheel when you see somebody's trailer explode into a 360° spin.

The report predicts that traffic will fall to LOS E when the population of Black Rock City reaches 65,400. Suggested means to keep LOS no lower than D include...

• "Extending the exodus period." I'm not sure what this would mean, since each vehicle is free to decide to leave at any time. Maybe they are suggesting some major burn be added on the night of Labor Day, or maybe (heavens forbid!) they are suggesting the Man be burned on Friday night.
• Implementing a system that requires participants to sign up for an exit time.
• Incentivizing carpooling so there are more participants per vehicle (e.g., by charging a fee to bring a car or rewarding high vehicle occupancy rates). This one sounds workable.

I suppose coming up with a system to discourage the use of those ancient hippie-mobiles that strain to reach 50 MPH would be counter to the Burning Man ethos.

A specific recommendation is to limit the exit rate to no more than 1,000 vehicles/hour. That's something they can totally do, but it means we end up sitting 6 hours in the exit road, like last year. When the exit road is filled to capacity (as happened last year) they close the road and use BMIR radio to spread the word that everybody should just cool it and hang out in BRC for a few more hours until the exit road re-opens.

They also recommend putting a temporary 25 MPH speed limit in place in Empire; speed limit trailers in Gerlach, Empire and Nixon; and traffic control in Nixon at the intersection of 446 and 447. There has been traffic control in previous years only at the exit road and at the intersection of 34 and 447 in Gerlach.

There is a landfill in the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation on the left during the exit (there are also a couple on the right). IMO, anything that requires a left turn during the exit is just shit outaluck, but BLM recommends a traffic plan to deal with that left turn into the landfill, because I guess somebody's going to do it.

With a population of 50,000, here are the projected numbers of trips (in plus out):
Sunday: 4,389
Monday: 8,198
Tuesday: 4,943
Wednesday: 5,566
Thursday: 4,211
Friday: 2,522
Saturday: 3,239 (the first day where exits exceed entrances - 402 in, 2,837 out)
Sunday: 12,333
Monday: 14,900 (there goes Ron)
Tuesday: 3,698 (man, that was some trippy acid! what day is it?)

Here's a factoid for you: "the total luminous flux of the event is estimated to be 150,000 candela."

And another: "the distance at which the vertical illuminance exceeds 0.1 millilux threshold for natural darkness is approximately 24 miles." Does that mean some of the glow can be seen 24 miles away?

Wild, Wild Horses

Although wild horses and burros don't come onto the playa, Burning Man does affect them: with more traffic there's a greater chance of vehicle/quadruped collision, dust on the vegetation makes it less palatable, inhalation or ingestion of large amounts of dust can be harmful.

"Coyote, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, and bighorn sheep occasionally cross the playa when traveling between adjacent habitat." If ever I looked over the perimeter trash fence and saw a deer, antelope or bighorn sheep passing by I would wonder why I could not remember taking any hallucinogens.

Native American Religious Concerns

"Through the consultation process, no sacred sites have been identified in the project area. While sacred sites may exist in the assessment area, until the Northern Paiutes are forthcoming on where these are, determining past, present, and foreseeable actions that may contribute to cumulative effects is difficult."

Mitigation and Monitoring Recommendations

An oil drip survey. The methodology is not described, but if it shows that oil dripping is increasing, then action should be taken to reduce it.

More porta-potties out in the art areas.

Provide a minimum of 10 additional dumpsters to the Paiute Reservation along 447.

No more than 1,000 vehicles exiting per hour, plus the other traffic measures mentioned above.

Population Growth

Using 2010 and 2011 population as the base, and taking into consideration the totality of data available, BRC estimates that the growth rate of the Burning Man event will average 6% a year from 2012 through 2016. As in the past, population will decline in some years, increase in others, but over time will average to 6%. This is similar to the average growth we experienced during the last five years. It does appear though that the growth rate is declining over time.

Take 2011's population of roughly 53,000 and project it at 6% growth per year:
2012: 56,180
2013: 59,551
2014: 63,124
2015: 66,911
2016: 70,925

I haven't found any schedule of population limits established by BLM, however. So if they approve the request to allow the population to rise to 70,000, I suppose its just possible that Burning Man could go for that 70,000 number in 2012 - which might do something to mollify those who still don't have tickets...but it may be too late for some art projects.

1-Mile Clock Guinness Submission Video

Here, lo-res and handheld. Put your squinting face on. If anyone can point me to a higher grade version I'd appreciate it.

TEDx Talk On Burning Man's 2011 Temple of Transition

A pair of the many creators of the Temple talk about why and how the Temple was built.

The Temple of Transition in heavy use. Photo by Terra Incognita!

In Petaluma, California, work has commenced to build this year's Temple of Juno.

Iowa State: "Burning Man Studio"

This Iowa State class camped next to ours in 2010. The instructor is an assistant professor of architecture and in 2010 the course was entitled "Shifting Sands: Transient Architectures in the Desert." There are two sections to the course:

1. The first section is between May 16 and July 8, where the students are to develop and produce their projects for the playa. The studio is held in the Armory building [in Ames, Iowa] where the students have 24 hour access to work on their art and store their supplies.
2. The second section is between August 29 and September 5, when the students take a trip to the Burning Man Festival.

English major Jason Parry clearly describes the essence of Burning Man as only an English major could: "It's community-oriented. Everybody works and helps out, participating in washing dishes and doing choirs." After doing some choirs, it's time to rest and leave the chores for another day.

The syllabus says "What it means to be in a community, to participate in it will be redefined; expected to work with intensity and dedication, experiment, make magical things, teach, and help each other." (And BURN things!)

"The course starts out with the students learning about the history of Burning Man by purchasing books and viewing films." Well, I guess that's how you know it's a college credit course.

This set of Burning Man Studio photos are all in the studio in Ames, nothing in Nevada. Their Facebook page.

Just Buy A Mutant Vehicle

Why go to all the effort to design and build a mutant vehicle for your transportation and enjoyment at Burning Man, when you can just buy one. $4500 for this little showstopper:

Asking only $4,500, you can pick it up in Oakland. This milk carton and bowl of cereal can be licensed for both day and night driving on the playa, where we last saw it in 2010. Under the hood bowl you'll find a modest, unassuming 1992 Ford Explorer. It has been enhanced with a 25-feet tall milk carton, a 10-feet diameter fiberglass bowl that can seat 10, a slide, at least 4,000 LEDs, and 80 pillows. The owner says this Ford "starts and runs" and glides along on 31 off-road tires (two spares included in purchase). Two warnings: it is not street legal, kids, and "no longer has a usable VIN#." What are the various ways a VIN can become unusable? It was reported stolen? It was in that Swap & Chop program early in the Obama administration (what was that thing called)? It was seized in a drug bust, but "fell off the truck" and out of the police impoundment lot? You tell me. In any case, I've never seen Sheriff's Deputies checking the VINs of mutant vehicles on the playa.

Move fast, mutant vehicle registration closes May 15.

This vehicle does not include a ticket to Burning Man.

Yet Another Burning Man Video

A calm, accurate presentation. The creator, AdventureSauce, uses pixelization and even a big black dot during one part, but neither he nor I guarantee that everything any individual might find offensive has been rendered invisible. It's Burning Man: where things are seen.

Burning Man Playa Prep Begins

Officials who dress nicely and sit in offices are saying it was a fireball that went streaking across the skies of San Francisco, Sacramento, Bakersfield, Reno and North Las Vegas. We know it was actually the initial delivery by rocket ship of art works for the Black Rock Desert playa. I'll bring you photos of the crash site in September.

Burning Man 2012-2016

Burning Man has applied for a 5-year permit from BLM that would allow the festival to grow to 70,000 participants. The environmental assessment for this request is in its comment period now. The comment period ends April 16. The Reno Gazette-Journal reports only "scant opposition." Even the Sierra Club is silent. In the recent past, most of the entirely understandable opposition has come from those who live in the area and are most directly affected by the huge increase in traffic and litter along the highways (usually due to traffic accidents).

Here's the preliminary environmental assessment for 2012-16 (PDF, 16.5 MB, 328 pages). I have been chipping away at that for about a week, and will give you a report soon-ish.

Burning Man Funds Art Projects

An article by Steven T. Jones about this year's grants from Burning Man to artists. 349 artists requested $5 million. Burning Man has selected 47 projects to receive a total of $700,000, which is $100,000 more than last year. One who did not get a grant is Marco Cochrane, whose famous "Blissdance" is now on permanent display on Treasure Island.

The article includes a list of the 47 projects awarded with only names and the artist's city of residence. One project is Burn Wall Street which will include a Goldman Sachs jungle gym that designer Otto Von Danger promises will be the tallest point that you will be able to climb to in Black Rock City.