DPW
The Department of Public Works (DPW) undertakes the massive task of
building, maintaining, and cleaning
up Black Rock City. The city occupies over 4 square miles. Its facilities
are assembled from 200 lampposts, 2,000 street signs, over 6,000 t-stakes,
several thousand concrete form stakes, and 12 miles of fence. It encompasses
an airport, banks of port-a-potties,
several temporary buildings, acres of shade structure, 24 burn platforms,
and 200 burn barrels. The construction of this metropolis requires thousands
of hours of labor by hundreds of dedicated workers, all accomplished in
a month's time, in very harsh high-desert conditions a hundred miles from
the nearest source of building supplies. Transportation, food service,
sanitation, material acquisition, living quarters, fuel, and equipment
maintenance are just some of the tasks to be managed. Logistics alone
can be a daunting challenge.
Snow on the
shade structure along side the silver building. Photo: Flynn
|
In January, the DPW management team reorganized, adding new members
in the process, and DPW created a new accounting department and
business process . We held meetings every week in San Francisco
until March, and the early crew was ready to commence operations by
spring. An
improved
volunteer process brought in more committed and skilled workers
than ever before. Overall, the operations
management
plan functioned beautifully this year. Failures only engendered
new successes. Better business management helped to improve our job
tracking and budgeting, resulting in better control of the vital flow
of money. DPW staff are already at work creating an improved plan
for 2002.
DPW completed every assigned task on time in 2001, including the installation
of fences, shade structures, temporary buildings, the Man and tower, the
café, signage, portable toilets, communication towers, kiosks, an airport,
the workers' commissary, and the supply depot. One particular success
was the burn platforms and fire barrels, which substantially mitigated
burn scars on the playa. Three years ago clean-up crews repaired hundreds
of burn scars on the playa This year the burn platforms and fire barrels,
along with increased awareness of the issue among participants, reduced
these scars to fewer than 30.
Photo: Will
Roger |
The
Work Ranch
New and special challenges emerged in 2001. In addition to the normal
work building Black Rock City, DPW launched an ambitious plan to develop
a better base of operations. Those operations are centered at the Work
Ranch, a leased property located in Hualapai Valley about 13 miles from
the present location of Black Rock City and adjacent to the Fly Ranch
(where Black Rock City was located in 1997). DPW was founded here in 1997
with a tent, three people, and a vision for the future.
The Work Ranch accommodates all trailers, vehicles, mobile homes, storage
containers, travel trailers, camping equipment, building materials, art
materials, and many other things during the 11 months of the year when
Black Rock City has no physical presence. Eighty acres of flotsam from
the city's present and past have washed up on the "Eighty Acres," along
with facilities for fabricating much of our city's infrastructure. Operations
in Nevada have become increasingly important because the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) has squeezed the time that Burning Man workers can occupy
the city site both before and after event.
At the peak of the work season in August over 200 DPW workers inhabit
the Work Ranch. In 2001, activity at the Ranch started in March when work
began on an adjacent property, Black Rock Station. Morning meetings were
held at the ranch every day for the next 8 months through the completion
of clean-up. Fourteen DPW staff members began working on Black Rock Station
on March 15, and this work continued until August 1 when construction
of Black Rock City began.
Photo: Flynn
Mauthe |
Black
Rock Station
The Work Ranch has no water supply on site. In the past we were able
to obtain water at no cost from property owned by Burning Man's benevolent
landlord. Potable water is essential to life on the Work Ranch, and water
is also needed for dust abatement on the playa. DPW has used several million
gallons each year watering the roads of Black Rock City. However, a new
owner purchased the adjacent property in January and proposed to sell
the water we had previously received for free at the rate of seven cents
per gallon. Water was turning to gold in the desert and we didn't have
any of either. We checked all possible sources, but water is a very rare
commodity in the Great Basin. Prices reflect whatever local markets will
bear.
A partial solution emerged when the abandoned property immediately adjacent
to the Work Ranch came up for sale, including a good well. While it was
not a well of the commercial class, it could solve the immediate problem
of supplying water for drinking, bathing, and local irrigation. Black
Rock City LLC purchased this tract in February and our thirst for water
was partially slaked. Black Rock Station, as we call it, is 200 acres
of high-desert brush with an old ranch house, some outbuildings, and many
future possibilities.
In March DPW undertook several projects to improve this new property,
beginning by gathering up and trucking away accumulated debris. Roads
were established connecting the two properties and surfaced with gravel
to minimize the ever-present dust. A 4,000 square foot shop building was
constructed of corrugated steel. A power system based on alternative energy
was installed (solar panels and wind generator, with back-up diesel generator).
The ranch house was renovated as stylish office space, including a small
network and much-needed Starband satellite DSL internet connection.A pump
house was built around the wellhead. A water distribution system was begun
to feed a forthcoming garden and grove of trees. Primitive showers with
hot and cold running water were constructed. Communications systems were
upgraded.
Our principal concern was to improve living arrangements for the volunteers
and workers, who labor long in harsh conditions. Increased comfort for
workers improves the effectiveness of their work. Attempting to weld metal
or wield a power saw in an 80 mph wind in the midst of a white-out is
not an enviable chore, and some respite at the end of the workday is not
too much to ask. In addition, for the first time this year, the Man was
crafted in Nevada at the new shop!
Photo: Flynn
Mauthe |
Frog
Farm Ranch
The purchase of Black Rock Station supplied potable water needs, but
the much greater need for water to provide dust abatement remained. Dust
abatement for the roads of Black Rock City is a BLM requirement listed
in the bureau's permit stipulations. Later in the year, however, a solution
presented itself when the property known as Frog Farm or Garrett Ranch
(also erroneously known as Bordello Hot Springs) became available for
lease. Eight artesian wells of various volumes and temperatures flow on
these 320 acres, and the owner is a veteran Burning Man participant and
a friend of the Project. Burning Man leased this property on very reasonable
terms, including some excavating work that created new reservoirs. This
project was completed in July, just in time to provide water for dust
abatement.
The owner of Frog Farm also asked DPW to clean up the property and keep
the public from using its hot springs. The last requirement was unacceptable,
but as a compromise, all agreed that the public could walk in and bathe,
but overnight camping would not be allowed.
Several new ponds now exist, including two new warm pools. After some
years of absence, water fowl have begun to land there on their migratory
flights, and frogs and fish are breeding in the ponds. Most of the debris
has been cleared away, including some human waste. Recreational users
have honored the new use restrictions with few complaints or confrontations.
Gerlach
Office
The Gerlach office at 380-390 Main Street in downtown Gerlach is the
communication hub for Burning Man's Nevada operations. It provides the
land phone lines not available at Black Rock Station, as well as a one-bedroom
house with a laundry facility, the former Gerlach Post Office building
(now converted to Burning Man offices), and the Burning Man Museum, a
turn-of-the-century railroad building housing mementos and artifacts from
the event's past. The Gerlach office also functions as a retail outlet
for merchandise and tickets during the summer months.This one acre of
property was purchased in early 2000.
Gerlach Office
and the Burning Man Museum, Gerlach, NV. |
Conclusion
Burning Man and its DPW have a year-round presence in the high desert of Nevada.
While DPW did a good job overall in 2001, many improvements and new directions
are in prospect. Plans call for an expansion of managing staff in the
coming year, and Black Rock Station should become a work center for many
more Burning Man endeavors. A conference center, community center, and
artist retreat are future possibilities. The Frog Farm Ranch offers additional,
and more immediate, potential enhancements. The Work Ranch needs some
additional improvements to accommodate a growing worker population. Many
new dreams can come true for Burning Man in Nevada, and DPW is eager to
help make them happen.
The Black Rock City Department of Public Works attracts a special kind
of person. DPW workers face strenuous physical challenges far from the
ordinary comforts of home. This high-desert country is a place of solitude
and silence, quite unlike the clamor and the bustle of the temporary city
overseen by the Man. Yet in many ways, the experience of working here
exemplifies the essence of Burning Man. The struggle to survive in Black
Rock country breeds a hardiness and sense of self-reliance. But the need
to cooperate -- toiling together, sharing food, and telling stories around
the campfire at night -- creates an intense feeling of camaraderie. Labor
has a way of opening the heart. DPW workers see Black Rock City rise up
out of nothing, and they witness its disappearance. But they are never
spectators to this process. Our city equates, in the most immediate way
imaginable, with their effort.