Great Basin Gathering

An opinionated roundup of reports from the grass roots, upcoming events and resources


Reports

Ban the Man! That's what we were inclined to say after participating in this year's Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert over Labor Day weekend. This year's theme was Hell. And in Black Rock City-- an ephemeral village of 10,000 souls, according to organizers -- one could visit McSatan's burger stand, fill up at the Hell gas station, and spend the night at Motel 666. burning man ticket There's something about taking signs of the Evil One so casually that rubs us the wrong way. You better be careful what you wish for: you might get it. "Within the flames are spirits," Virgil told Dante, "each one here enfolds himself in what burns him." But it's not for moral reasons that we say good riddance to the man. The Pershing County Sheriff has asked the Bureau of Land Management to stop the Burning Man. "What goes on out there isn't exactly what you would want your son or daughter to see," he told us. But it's not unlike what they might see in National Geographic and we took responsibility for making sure our own kids didn't get burned.

For us, the Burning Man illustrates two unfortunate but inescapable facts of life. First, it shows that when a place becomes too popular it gets overrun. Second, it shows that without rules that are enforced a community cannot expect citizens to behave responsibly. This is true despite the best intentions and hard work of the organizers of this event, who do their best to encourage responsible behavior and spend weeks cleaning up after participants. But all you have to do is be present during the event to see it doesn't work. People were asked to drive slow on the playa. Speeding cars created a choking dust storm. A motorcyclist died in a head-on collision. Three people were seriously injured when a car crashed into their tent. Participants were advised to carry water. We came across people wandering far from camp with dazed looks on their faces and no water. Organizers asked people to stay out of the hot springs around the playa. One man stuck a pump in the springs to fill a tank for hot showers back at Black Rock City.

It is on these grounds that we support the appeal to stop the Burning Man that was filed by Susan Lynn and Rose Strickland on behalf of The Coalition for the High Rock/Black Rock Emigrant Trail National Conservation Area, The Oregon-California Trails Association, Public Resource Associates, and the Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club. "These masses of people significantly impact the historical, archeological and biological resources that the BLM professes to protect." But the BLM has never done an environmental impact study on the cumulative effects of mega-events on the Black Rock, including race tracks for setting land speed records. Lynn wants a ban on any events of over 200 people until a study is completed. That sounds sensible for now.

We took a Great Basin News bulletin board to the festival to give visitors, most of whom come from California, some sense of what this region that they imagine a blank canvas for their unfettered fantasies is really about. We watched a blank-faced girl light copies of the magazine afire to torch our display in the general funeral pyre that burns everything on the last night. It was a reminder of the ephemeral nature of this enterprise, for which we are grateful. But it's not out of personal animus that we reluctantly conclude that the Black Rock Desert is not the place for another Sin City. The Black Rock Desert is big, but not big enough for Hell on Earth. We hope the organizers get the message without having to be banned. The Burning Man is dead. Long live the Black Rock Desert.

Wilderness without war. Sen. Harry Reid wants it and he just might get it. This summer, we traveled with Reid and an entourage of BLM officials, environmentalists, and representatives of the ranching and mining industry to wilderness study areas in northwestern Nevada, including the Black Rock Desert. The big news was the lack of controversy. There was even agreement that one of the areas not recommended for wilderness by the BLM, Wall Canyon, ought to be included. The consensus seems to have moved away from the battles that have wracked neighboring Utah, requiring presidential intervention on behalf of the Escalante's redrock canyons. This would never happen in Nevada's less charismatic wilderness.

Events

Art and science go hand-in-hand in "Literary Natural History," a series of free public readings and discussions at the University of Nevada, Reno. David Quammen kicks off the series Oct. 15. Until recently Quammen was natural history columnist for Outside magazine . His latest book, Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction , explores the fate of species that live on islands, whether natural or made by surrounding development. The Great Basin is defined by island biogeography. Each mountain range contains a unique set of species. Quammen's book gives short shrift to the region but we hope he will come prepared to address biodiversity on the Great Basin's inland islands. Other scientists-cum-artists in the series, which runs through April, include John Janovy, Jr., Louise B. Young, Gary Paul Nabhan, Richard K. Nelson, and Robert Michael Pyle. For information, contact the Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities/098, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557 (702/784-8015).

"Demons, Monks, and Nuke Waste" is the title of this year's annual Nevada Humanities Committee lecture. Frank Bergon will address the spiritual implications of the nuclear age Oct. 16 at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and Oct. 17 at the University of Nevada, Reno. Bergon is the author of St. Ed and Brother S., a novel set in a hermitage on the edge of the Nevada Test Site. "Faith in eternal time had to undergird spiritual communities in the postnuclear age," St. Ed concludes in the novel. He has a vision of the monks "generating spiritual energy to counter the wasted nuclear energy streaming past them in trucks toward the crypt in Shoshone Mountain." For information, contact the Nevada Humanities Committee at 702/784-6587.

Gary Short is hitting the road with his new book of poems, Flying Over Sonny Liston. As we go to press, Short, who is also poetry editor of Great Basin News, is preparing for a grueling schedule of readings. We hope you'll hear him out when he shows up in your town: Denver (10/5-6), Las Vegas (10/7), Cedar City, Utah (10/8), Phoenix (10/10), Reno (10/15 and 17), Nevada City, Calif. (10/18), Fallon, Nev. (10/22), Salt Lake City (11/1) and Logan, Utah (11/2). Give us a call at 702/882-3990 for details or if your town is not on the tour and you'd like him to visit.

"Change in the American West" is the theme of the new and improved Halcyon. The annual publication of the Nevada Humanities Committee has undergone a redesign. And the next five issues, which will take us to the millennium, will explore change. The 1996 edition, the first in the new series, contains work from Great Basin News photography editor Kit Miller, and a lively discussion between journalists and historians moderated by editor Jon Christensen. They will be joining other contributors to Change in the American West for a publication party and discussion the evening of November 26 at the Nevada Historical Society in Reno.

Mystery contest: How did Capt. John C. Fremont discover Pyramid Lake? No, this is not a trick question. Yes, the Pyramid Lake Paiutes were living there for thousands of years before Fremont's arid eyes first drank in the "waves curling in the breeze." Fremont was genuinely surprised to find the lake "set like a gem in the mountains." But there is still a lingering controversy about the route he took, and his diary is an unreliable guide. Friends of Pyramid Lake is sponsoring an essay contest, with $100 going to the best solution. Entries are due by Dec. 31. For details, contact Friends of Pyramid Lake, Box 8947, Reno, NV 89507.

cartoon by Tom Ward Resources The Sierra Nevada has the resources to restore its frayed patchwork of dwindling old-growth, imperiled species and degraded waterways. Two reports released this summer make the case that the Range of Light has the natural, human, and financial resources to fashion a sustainable economy within healthy ecosystems. The Sierra Nevada Ecosytem Project Report is the most comprehensive scientific study ever conducted of the region, running to more than 3,000 pages. The Sierra Business Council's Sierra Nevada Wealth Index tracks 42 graphic indicators of the region's well-being, ranging from water quality to employment and school test scores. The wealth index is available for $11 from the Sierra Business Council, P.O. Box 2428, Truckee, CA 96160 (916/582-4800). An order form for the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project Report is available from the Centers for Water and Wildland Resources, 1072 Academic Surge, University of California, Davis, CA 95616-8750 (916/752-7992). The report is also on-line at http://www.ceres.ca.gov/snep.

cartoon by Tom Ward


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