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Appeal Over Burning Man Crowd Size Dismissed
A California man’s appeal over federal land managers’ decision to increase the Burning Man festival’s attendance cap in the northern Nevada desert has been dismissed.
The Interior Board of Land Appeals, in a ruling issued May 16, upheld the Bureau of Land Management’s increase last year in the maximum daily crowd size from 50,000 to 60,900.
The appeal, filed by land sailing enthusiast Christopher Brooks of Cotati, Calif., maintains the offbeat art and music festival should have been limited to 50,000 participants after the BLM placed organizers on probation for exceeding the 2011 attendance cap.
But the national board ruled the BLM followed its rules, and there’s no evidence to support Brooks’ position that Burning Man is to blame for dunes that have prevented land sailors and land-speed racers from using the Black Rock Desert, where the festival is held annually.