Form BLM 2930 1 Bureau of Land Management Blm

[Edit on 8/24/13: the primary local law enforcement agency for Burning Man is now the Pershing County Sheriff's Office, with more than 60 deputies on site. Many are part-time, temporary hires of retired cops, as Pershing County SO is not all that big an agency. Washoe County has a small contingent on site, mainly for traffic control at Gerlach, one of the portals to the Black Rock Desert.] Burning Man is a difficult situation for the [Washoe] Pershing County Sheriff's Office and the Bureau of Land Management Police, which are the two primary law enforcement agencies with a presence at Burning Man. Most of the problems aren't with the majority of participants, but rather with a few people. This mirrors the situation in non-Burning Man environments. The police cannot/will not turn a blind eye to possession, sale and use of illegal controlled substances. Most people respect this and are discreet about their recreational drug use, if they use any at all. A few decide that Burning Man should be a drug law-free zone, with the predictable conflict between them and law enforcement. Likewise, most "burners" are respectful of the fragile desert environment and are careful to leave nothing but tracks in the dirt. A few don't provide for their sanitation needs, leave trash behind, build illegal fires, etc. and make life difficult for themselves and everyone else when law enforcement has to step in and do their jobs. Burning Man may have grown larger than the site can support. Organizers have had to resort to limited ticket sales, which is counter to the "anything goes" ethos of Burning Man. Neither the WCSO or the BLM Police have the staff and resources to police that many people effectively. Detractors of the police say that Burning Man would be better if there was no police presence at all. If that was the case, you can bet there would be wars between factions competing for the controlled substances market, sexual assaults with no one around to step in or run to for help, and more environmental damage than there is already. While many, even most, burners conduct themselves peaceably and responsibly, there will always be a few people who exploit the situation for their own benefit, and without regard for the needs and safety of others.  Burning Man 2013 will go on as planned, but I think you can expect increasing push-back from the BLM and Washoe County in future years, as the damage to the Black Rock Desert is re-examined and the resources the county and BLM have to apportion to Burning Man are in greater demand.

This type of change doesn’t come from the agency itself because that takes years. This type of change comes from a group of skiers together that ask the BLM to help them build some trails.Make friends with the snowmobile people and see if they would be willing to groom. Grooming ski trails on a snowmobile is pretty fun, so it may not be that hard to get somebody to groom.If you have a trail flagged in spring they may use the spot to teach a chainsaw class, so try to have it flagged by then.This may not help you this winter, but it probably will next winter.Edit: Talk to snowmobilers too about helping build the trail, they may be pretty into helping because it improves their experience as well when they don’t have to worry about skiers on the trail. Also those guys are likely to have tools and atvs.