Government squaring off with Burning Man organizers over barriers, lasers and trash cans originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

A standoff with the federal government is putting the future of Burning Man at risk.

The problems started when the event's organizer, Burning Man Project, applied for a permit from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to hold the event in northern Nevada's Black Rock Desert for another 10 years.

Then the BLM responded.

The agency, which is part of the Interior Department and manages public lands, issued a draft of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) required for the permit on March 15.

BLM wants 10 miles of concrete barriers installed on the event's perimeter for security, a requirement that organizers install dumpsters and hire companies to haul out the trash and authorities in place to conduct vehicle searches at the gate.

PHOTO: Burning Man festival in Black Rock City, Nev., 2003. (John Horsley/Photoshot/Getty Images) More

(MORE: Burning Man: 30 Years in the Making)

The decision didn’t sit well with Burners.

"Many of the measures recommended by BLM are unreasonable, untenable, attempt to solve problems that don’t exist, and/or create new (and worse) problems," Burning Man Project wrote in a fact-checking statement.

"Altogether, these requirements would fundamentally change the operational integrity and cultural fabric of Black Rock City, and would spell the end of the event as we know it," the group added. "This is not an exaggeration."

(MORE: Burning Man: What Is It, Exactly?)

The organizers encouraged Burners and their supporters to submit comments to the agency by a Monday deadline.

"I get they're trying to save the land but the majority of burners aren’t a-------," Jessyca Jones, 29, from Salem, Oregon, told ABC News in a message. "We pack it in, pack it out. We have crews literally SCOURING the ground to pick up the tiniest bits of things someone left behind just to make sure the playa is left at its best. We have a trash fence. We have us to keep the perimeter safe."

Burning Man is a "Leave No Trace" event (organizers and hardcore burners do not like the term "festival"), where "camps" form their own communities for a week, share resources and create art together. At the end, there should be no evidence of what happened and the land is supposed to be returned to a cleaner state than before.

The event has become such a big phenomenon that it's developed its own vocabulary, compiled in a glossary on its site. A playa, for example, is defined as: "The Spanish word for beach, also used to describe dry lake beds in the American west such as the Black Rock Desert."

PHOTO: In this Sept. 2, 2006 file photo, The Man, a stick figured symbol of the Burning Man art festival, is silhouetted against a morning sunrise in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. (Ron Lewis/AP) More

It’s been around for nearly three decades, but the last few years have seen an influx of hipsters and tech moguls and their followers, which have made the event a cultural phenomenon or target, depending on who is opining.

The conditions of the permit wouldn't affect this year's conclave, which is slated for Aug. 25 to Sept. 2. It could potentially derail next year's event, though.

(MORE: Lightning strike sparked massive wildfire closing road to Burning Man festival)

But central to the ethos of the week is sense of self-governance, which is why the new government proposals are particularly ingratiating.

"We are our own city. We have no government, and I’m not saying it would work in everyday, but keeping the feds as far away as possible from encroaching into the event has worked OK thus far. Now, that’s not to say they aren’t present every year. But they’ve not built a f------ wall around us and it’s been just fine," Jones said.

The tension with the government has taken some longtime Burners by surprise.

"They, Burning Man Project, has worked with BLM together for so long, it’s generally been a very collaborative relationship," said Cabe Franklin, a New Yorker who has attended 14 times since 2000.

Story continues