By Michael Moore
The Burning Man organization knows it wants Black Rock City’s population to grow to 100,000, but it has yet to devise a plan to accommodate that expansion.
Bmorg is in the process of applying for a 10-year Special Recreation Permit that would raise the city’s population cap to 100,000 — from the current 70,000 — by 2029. There is little doubt with that much growth, BRC will look and feel like a vastly different city if the federal Bureau of Land Management approves the permit.
Details like how to prevent long lines at the Gate from becoming longer, any extra staffing and volunteer needs that Bmorg will require, how to deal with the additional traffic of a 100,000-person event and more will be determined in the coming months, Burning Man spokesman Jim Graham said.
The permit review and renewal process requires an Environmental Impact Statement, a comprehensive study of how the event’s proposed expansion will affect not only Burners, but also the local year-round residents of Pershing and Washoe counties. That EIS is underway and a draft is expected by fall. A public comment period on the scoping of the EIS—or how intensive and detailed the study should be—ended last month, but not without some verbal sparring between Bmorg and Pershing County officials.
After District Attorney Bryce Shields submitted a letter to the BLM asking for the Feds to consider capping BRC’s population at 50,000, Burning Man representative Roger Vind fired back with a scathing missive describing many of the DA’s claims of a high volume of unreported crime at BRC and excessive burdens on the county’s criminal justice system as “inaccurate.”
“Capping the event at 50,000 people does little to address the issues we face now and in the future of the event,” Vind told the county commissioners earlier this month. He said “none of the outlandish claims” by Pershing “can be tied to population whatsoever.”
Vind also noted that reported crime at Burning Man has lagged the event’s population growth rate, suggesting the county’s claims are exaggerated. In 2016 and 2017, a dozen “person-on-person” crimes were reported at Burning Man each year.
Shields declined to comment on Vind’s statement. His Aug. 3 letter that provoked Vind’s ire was submitted on behalf of the county officials as their formal comment on the EIS scoping. Shields’ request for a 50,000-population cap would include paid staff, vendors and contractors.
The growth of Burning Man to 100,000 over the next decade would not be the largest rate of growth BRC has seen. From 2010 to 2016, the city’s population grew by 58 percent, Vind noted.
After a draft EIS is completed this fall, another public comment period will follow. BLM spokesman Kyle Hendrix said some common complaints heard during the scoping period have to do with Burners leaving trash on the side of the road and the ability of public streets on the way to BRC to handle the increased traffic as the population rises. Hendrix said the 2017 Burn was “incredibly successful” from the BLM’s standpoint.
BLM will consider approving the 10-year permit in early 2019, after a final draft of the EIS is completed.