Jack Rabbit Speaks
October 30, 1998

Subject: #BManUpdate:V:3:#6 Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 16:54:49 -0800 (PST)

From: Maid Marian <marian@burningman.com>
To: bman-announce@burningman.com

JRS/V:3#6/10.30.98

Sorry this is even later than I expected, but I just got off the phone with Mike Bilbo. Our conversation has caused me to update some of my commentary.

WARNING: This is a lengthly email outlining the approach Burning Man participants need to take in responding to the "Sonoma-Gerlach and Paradise-Denio Management Framework Plan Amendment and Draft Environmental Impact Statement" (MFP Amendment and Draft EIS).

It effects our future on the Black Rock Desert. Please take the time to PRINT this email, the companion documents and digest the information. Contribute to this process. In actuality it's all rather interesting...particularly if you've ever studied witch hunts. All the relevant links (4 so far) are available on our web site. Larry Harvey is currently crafting an overview for that page which will be available late tonight or Sat. morning. (10.31.98). All but the EIS are suitable for printing and framing.

~~~WHAT'S IN THIS EMAIL ?

1) An Introduction
2) What we need to accomplish
3) The URL of an article written for the Summer 1998 "Building Burning Man" newsletter in which we outline our Long Range Plan for use of the Black Rock Desert.
4) A dialog between Larry Harvey and Darryl Van Rhey that easily outlines what Burning Man sees as the fundamental problems of the current Draft EIS. (read first?)
5) URL for the Sonoma-Gerlach and Paradise-Denio Management Framework Plan Amendment and Draft Environmental Impact Study, http://www.nv.blm.gov/Winnemucca/BlackrockEIS.htm
6) A Summary outlining the document shortcomings with a link to a longer Cheat Sheet which will give specific references and rebutals to the Draft EIS. (PLEASE print the Cheat Sheet out to reference if you choose to review the Draft EIS, it is designed to make slogging through the EIS a less than odious chore, and could be digested instead of reading the complete EIS.)
7) A reminder of the public meeting schedule if you're able to attend, and tips on meeting format and what to expect.
8) Where to respond for paper-based commentary.

~~~INTRODUCTION TO THIS EMAIL ----

The 1998 event site is Clean!

First of all. We are proud to report that the BLM has visited our event site, and given us a clean bill of health. Will Roger and his band of hard workers have finished the job. Will and Crimson Rose met with Mike Bilbo of the BLM last Thursday morning. There is a bit of detail work that could still be done, but at the moment the playa is under water. In addition, work is still being done to "winterize" the 80 Acres where our event supplies and equipment are being stored. Will plans to send a wrap-up report to me next week for posting on the JRS.

----Why is this important to you as a Burning Man participant????

A quick review for those that might not be up to speed on this issue. For several years the BLM has been under pressure by special interest groups to amend the current land use plan for the Black Rock Desert. The current plan (the Sonoma-Gerlach and Paradise-Denio Management Framework Plan - MFP for short) was implemented in the early 1980's and doesn't provide for increased recreational use of the desert including more Special Recreation Permit applications.

Burning Man, in addition to several other special user groups (land speed record attempts, AeroPac rocketeers, and others) qualify for and apply for Special Recreation Permits (SRP). In January of 1998 Burning Man applied for our permit, and found our application returned due to the fact the Winnemucca district staff members were otherwise busy writing the Amendment and Draft EIS.

Fortunately many of you phoned, faxed, email and sent paper-based letters to the Winnemucca office of the BLM and helped overturn the proposed decision to NOT process our permit for the 1998 event. This was a LANDMARK move for us. Public pressure prevailed. We will be submitting our permit application for 1999 in the next few months. The issue at hand right now is NOT the 1999 permit, but our use for the next 20 years of the Black Rock Desert playa.

The Draft EIS has some notable flaws, the most important is that it limits our size to 10,000 people for 3 or 4 days, and forces us to engage in a Common Pool for use. This number was chosen arbitrarily, and doesn't take into account our record in 1998. It is vital to our long term survival that you take advantage of the EIS availability on the web (thanks BLM), and voice your thoughts. It will undoubtedly work in our favor as it gives those of you in far flung places (including international) an opportunity to express your opinion.

~~~WHAT WE NEED TO ACCOMPLISH

Effect significant change in the Draft Environmental Impact Study for the Black Rock Desert. If you are not already familiar with the EIS, I recommend you read the interview with Larry first. It's meant to provide an overview of why the EIS is troublesome for Burning Man. The Summary (below) will prepare you for the Draft-EIS Cheat Sheet. Finish off your research with the Long Range Plan article. If you are able to attend a meeting, please do so (see locations and dates below).

The majority of you, however, should take the time to craft an articulate letter to the BLM outlining your understanding of the shortcomings of the Draft EIS with suggestions on what should be changed. Forward this email far and wide. Print out all the appropriate documents (except the Draft-EIS) and share it with the Internet challenged. This is an important political issue, and we need several hundred letters. Anyone that uses the Black Rock Desert, and particularly those that support our presence on it should take the opportunity to effect the process. It worked last time, and we are assured if we voice our opinion we will be heard again. This effort is VITAL.

I am confident most of what you'll need to understand can be found using the resources I'm providing you. Should you work your way through all the available information and still have a question, PLEASE feel free to ask me. I'll do my best to respond quickly and accurately.

~~~STRUGGLE FOR THE DESERT - SUMMER 98 Newsletter

If you haven't read the Summer 1998 "Building Burning Man" newsletter or need to be reminded of the "Struggle for the Desert" article, please find it here.

It will give you a beginning point from which you can understand how we've found ourselves in a struggle once again, and some of the ways we plan in keeping the desert available for us and others to use.

~~~INTERVIEW BETWEEN LARRY HARVEY AND DARRYL VAN RHEY. THE NUMBERS GAME

~~~WHERE TO FIND THE EIS

The Sonoma-Gerlach and Paradise-Denio Management Framework Plan Amendment and Draft Environmental Impact Statement has been posted by the BLM. http://www.nv.blm.gov/Winnemucca/BlackrockEIS.htm

Hard copies can be obtained by calling Gerald Mortiz of the BLM at 702.623.1500

~~~DOCUMENT SUMMARY

It has taken a number of passes to fully digest this document. On the one hand it's rather redundant at times, and it's also rather interesting. The Draft EIS proposes a number of things that would virtually eliminate Burning Man on the Black Rock Desert. In addition, it in no way really solves one of the problems of evaluating large-scale user groups. Burning Man, however, does have some suggested changes and additions to the document.

PROBLEMS w/ Draft-EIS:
-- 50,000 user day Common Pool for all Special Recreation Permitees
-- 10,000 person population limit to all large scale events
-- no equitable process for evaluating large-scale permitees as viable and responsible
-- Limits of Acceptable change study done concurrently with plan implementation and population limit can not exceed 1997 levels
-- large scale events are scapegoats for casual uneducated users and their impact to sensitive and historical areas, while there currently is NO full-time/year-round visitor station in the area to distribute directional and environmental information.

The BLM endeavors to find an equitable method of Special Recreation Permit allocation, so they are proposing a rather dubious solution of a Common Pool permit allocation system. The total available for several large-scale groups would be 50,000 user days. A user day is one 24-hour period. A large-scale group is definied with any one of the following to be true:

1.) Over 4,500 people,
2.) Over five square miles required for an event.
3.) Linear area longer than four miles.
4.) Rocket launches exceeding 10 miles altitude.
5.) Requirement of extended closure beyond three days.
6.) Over 40 hours staff time needed to process permit.
7.) Events in which 25 or more vehicles participate.
8) Duration exceeding one week.

No one group would be allowed any more than 85% (42,500 days) of the available pool.

Large scale events would be limited to 10,000 people per event within a fiscal year.

Large scale events would be restricted to designated locations on the playa.

Unfortunately the 50,000 user days and 10,000 person limit are arbitrarily chosen based upon 1997 Special Recreation Permits and large-scale event use of the desert. The goal is to avoid degredation of fragile cultural areas.

The BLM needs a scale from which they can determine what is an acceptable change to the desert. They propose to spend 3-5 years examining the growth and impacts of the large-scale events (and all users) with a Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) study. The examination would consist of photomonitoring and visitor use data collection. The final tally would give the BLM variables by which they can determine what actually is considered an adverse impact in this area, and who does the impacting.

There is currently no accurate data. The LAC, however, would be conducted concurrently with the EIS implementation, and to do this the BLM proposes REDUCING large-scale event size to 1997 levels (10,000 persons).

Burning Man increased in 1998, and followed all permit stipulations, contained ourselves away from fragile areas of concern, and were given a clean bill of health on the post-event site. It would stand to reason, then that the base-line of 10,000 visitors maximum is far too low. We propose that the BLM remove this number entirely. It has no valid purpose and is arbitrary.

------ The Common Pool should also be removed.

There is no way that a Common Pool fosters support between user groups. Currently, volunteers from various user groups work together to do monitoring, visitor data collection and clean up projects. The Pool has the potential to pit users against one another and set up a very unhealthy competition for use of public lands that currently don't even see 40,000 total users a year.

In addition, it aims to LIMIT the users groups that are LEAST likely to be the cause of degredation and adverse impacts to the surrounding area. Most large-scale events and Special Recreation Permitees have easy access to BLM maps and back-country information. They return year after year, and many are also BLM volunteers. So, it stands to reason that the large-scale events (including Burning Man) are actually the better educated users of the Black Rock Desert.

Burning Man currently has a number of BLM documents about the Black Rock Desert and the Winnemucca region on the website. We successfully preached the Leave No Trace ethic, the Survival Guide (of which there were 12,000 copies) took desert safety information directly from BLM guides. It also included a history of the desert.

Burning Man took the initiative to educate users. Unfortunately, casual users to the Black Rock region are not guaranteed to find the temporary-trailer less-than-part-time visitor station open. It would be fair to assume that the LESS knowledge a person has about the desert the MORE likely he/she might wander into a historical or cultural area, pick up artifacts and take them home, tear up fragile dunes or leave a hotspring area in a mess. In addition to a full-time visitor's station a comprehensive educational outreach in surrounding elementary and middle schools needs to be started IMMEDIATELY.

------ A fairly massive hysteria is being waged against large-scale events, and Burning Man specifically. It would seem that two other issues concern those with the paranoia. The only indirect impact has possibly been through the national and international media attention which focused on the land speed record and the Burning Man event, and as a result could cause an increase in recreational tourism. But, since the bulk of the media attention for both was in 1997 it is only an assumption that this will cause a quantifiable increase in tourism to the playa. In any case, tourism in this region was growing before we arrived and is certain to grow regardless of whether we remain.

Looking at the long range view, which is the purpose of this proposal, it seems clear that the only way the continuing growth of tourism in Nevada can be prevented is by carpet bombing the western seaboard. The issue to be addressed is not the quantity of visitors. This is inevitable. Increased restrictions can only prevent the deserts use by responsibly organized groups. The real issue is the quality of such tourism.

Nor will a reduction solve one of the other favorite paranoias: "Burning Man "returnees" might be responsible for adverse impact and degredation." Huh? I suspect that many Burning Man participants would never travel to the Black Rock without a parcel of friends along, and most that do camp in the Black Rock are very aware of back-country use ethics of Leave No Trace and Tread Lightly.

Burning Man is not the scapegoat for the lack of informed returning or new visitors. The Draft EIS actually indicates that during 1997, 60% of the visitors are from California. This is a state with a comprehensive recycling program, initiative for electric cars, and no smoking in bars (SF). Also known for radical environmentalism.

During high traffic weekends in 1997 and 1998 (Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day) the Draft EIS says the majority of visitors to the playa are Nevadans. The assumptions the BLM is making on this issue of returnees and increased tourism with regard to Burning Man and land speed are wild supposition.

----- If we remove the 50,000 user day Common Pool and throw out the absurd population limit that has no basis in real fact or data there needs to be other options to fill the void and assist the BLM in determining which requests for a Special Recreation Permit are granted.

--OPTIONS: A more equitable method for permit allocation would involve a number of variables that are not even being considered anywhere in this document. These possibilities would actually help evaluate the large groups that plan to have more than 4,500 participants.

The fact of the matter is, Burning Man is the only permitee to fit the definition of large-scale simply by sheer numbers. So, this unique category could be called a Type 1 permitee. It is our size that seems to send fear irrationally rippling through those that love the Black Rock Desert.

It is true that should another large group come out of the woodwork and apply for a permit, the BLM's current land use plan makes no accomodation for evaluation, but the following evaluation variables should help. Does the Type 1 permitee have a plan for containment and cleanup? This will go a long way towards protecting fragile and sensitive areas DURING an event.

A Type 1 permitee has to take responsibility for containment as it's NOT only an environmental issue, but a public safety issue. Does the Type 1 permitee have a comprehensive program for educating it's participants/users? The BLM shouldn't have to educate every single user in a large group. It should be up to the group to disemminate information. Along the way it is highly likely that such users will be more fully educated about the area than a casual user. ie: Building Burning Man (the twice-yearly newsletter) The Burning Man Survival Guide, Jack Rabbit Speaks and web site info. Leave No Trace was found everywhere during the event, on the radio station and in the onsite newspaper the "Black Rock Gazette".

Does the Type 1 permitee show a committment towards the desert? Have they contributed volunteer services to the stewardship of the desert? Doesn't it make sense that those that use the desert should care for it. Should this be a mandatory qualification to receive a Special Recreation Permit? Burning Man has signed a Group Services Agreement, and have had 22 volunteers trained. In addition another 12 individuals were part of an arduous "Leave No Trace" course 2 weekends before the 1998 Burning Man event.

What is the previous history of the Type 1 permitee with regard to use of the Black Rock Desert or any public lands? How can the BLM fairly evaluate a potential permitee unless the permitee has shown responsible interaction with the desert?

These are four variables that are not even being considered when evaluating "large-scale" events.

Again, I argue that the real concern evidenced by the tone of the Draft-EIS is the size of OUR event. We continue to prove ourselves good tenants. The above variables would more equitably evaluate any future large-scale group requesting a permit.

The Draft EIS continually mentions that "restrictions on large-scale events will reduce or eliminate adverse impacts" to the desert. It's fairly clear to me that the wrong dog is being kicked. The desert can be preserved for centuries to come without reducing the size of the largest user group. All users need to come under one umbrella and work together to keep the desert open and available for everyone while still maintaining a reasonable cultural, historical and environmental integrity that doesn't eliminate recreational use.

If you think you know enough to write a letter, then go for it. Check out the address and further tips below. If you would like to peruse the Draft EIS along with a detailed point-by-point analysis of the shortcomings please visit the Cheat Sheet which just carved a few years off my life while writing it. [Link no longer valid] I won't be insulted if you find it tedious, but it is thorough.

~~~PUBLIC MEETING SCHEDULE

November 2, 1998 Red Lion Inn, 1401 Arden Way, Sacramento Ca

November 3, 1998 Nevada State Office, 1340 Financial Blvd., Reno NV

November 4, 1998 Lovelock Community Center, 820 6th St. Lovelock, NV

November 5, 1998 Winnemucca Field Office, 5100 E. Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, NV

November 9, 1998 Cedarville Field Office 602 Cressler Street, Cedarville, CA

November 10, 1998 Gerlach Community Center, 410 Cottonwood, Gerlach, NV

The meetings start at 7:00 PM. Mike Bilbo of the BLM has informed me that the format for the meetings will be conducted as follows: There will be a brief introduction, and then meeting attendees will be given an opportunity to approach a subject-related table and express his/her thoughts on an issue. The BLM representative will also answer any questions and clarify misunderstanding. After 30 minutes of this, the group will return to seats and attendees will be allowed to voice their thoughts to the group.

I ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO THIS. It's not a debate, and others should hear what you have to say. You could effect another person's thinking in a positive way. Print out all the documents listed, and bring them with you. Distribute them to friends ahead of time that might be attending. Arm yourself with information. Take the time to explain which elements of the document are unfair and why arbitrary limits and the Common Pool aren't fair to anyone.

Of course, this isn't the right time and place to let everyone know it changed your life and you've quit your job with Oracle to move into an art studio. Or, that you're still with Oracle but your disposable income is being spent on your "Elvis Lives" theme camp for Burning Man 1999. ;-) It is the right time to reveal who you really are and why the open and varied use of the desert is important to you.

Attending the meeting takes some preparation. If you are able to go please read what I've shared with you and attend. We need your support. Burning Man organizers can NOT do this without your voices. Use your own experience with Burning Man and the desert to express what you need to at the meeting. At this time I plan to attend the Sacramento and Gerlach meetings. Will Roger will attend the Gerlach and Lovelock meetings. Possible I'll be at the Reno meeting. Possible others such as Larry Harvey will attend the Sacramento meeting. It's MOST important that YOU the user and participant attend, as the BLM already knows what the organizers of Burning Man think.

~~~WRITTEN RESPONSE TO THE EIS Letters addressing the EIS should be sent to: Gerald Moritz, EIS Project Manager, Bureau of Land Management, Winnemucca Field Office, 5100 E. Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, Nevada 89445. Educate the BLM on who you are, where you're from, how often you've visited the desert with or without Burning Man and your understanding of the back-country use ethic. Then point out the features of the Draft EIS that are unfair and arbitrary (population limit and Common Pool). Add the evaluation points that we've suggested would help the BLM determine large-scale permitees, or include your own suggestions.

Please try to craft and articulate in your own words, it will sound much better than repeating mine. They know what I think!!! (tho there are only so many ways you can say something....I do realize that) If you have time and room remind them of the economic impact your visit had on the area last year.

The public comment period is open until January 15, 1999. I'm posting this information at this time to give you a head start on responding. The holidays are NOT the best time to reply to an EIS, so I encourage you to do this as soon as possible. PLEASE support Burning Man, and take a moment to write a letter to the BLM.

If you feel compelled send us a copy of your letter to: Burning Man, P.O. Box 420572, San Francisco, CA 94142-0572. Okay, I'll get off the soap box, but this isn’t the last you'll hear from me on this subject. To get all this info and more visit our website. This URL is not available FROM the web site, however, as i would like to focus the direction this takes for now. It's possible I'll provide a link in a few weeks. http://www.burningman.com/travel/environment/politics.html

Maid Marian
Mistress of Communication
Burning Man 1999
LEAVE NO TRACE http://www.burningman.com