MOOP MAP LIVE, Day 2: It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Green

Hey there sports fans, MOOP maniacs and line sweepers extraordinaire! The Hun here, reporting from Gerlach where the DPW Playa Restoration team is in fine form.

Vaughn Solo, in full regalia.

In their second day of Line Sweeps, the team marched through the remaining blocks between Liminal, Kindergarten and Journey. Then, with barely a break for water, they continued through most of Initiation and Hajj, setting an all-time record of 62 blocks!

Those of you who know how the MOOP Map is made will immediately recognize that a record-setting day translates to a lot of green, MOOP-free areas. So without further ado, here’s your MOOP Map as of Day Two:

Click to enlarge!

Today’s score: 80% green, 19% yellow and 1% red. Great job, Black Rock City. You’re keeping your commitment to the Leave No Trace ethic, and you’re making it possible for the Restoration team to win, win, win!

DA, Playa Restoration team manager, had this to say:

Line Sweep Team 1, led by Weldboy, seemed to have an easier time of it with almost all Green (with the exception of that 2:00 I-J corner).

Line Sweep Team 2, led by NikO Peaches, seemed to run into some trouble with a consistent streak of whole blocks of stop-and-go Yellow. When one team is on a Green block and the other is on a Yellow block, it becomes quickly apparent which side is the messier: One Team will be waiting at the finish line while the others are still bending over for MOOP in the center of the block.

Tomorrow we’ll finish our warm-up time on the back blocks H-I-J, and then we’ll jump up to 10:00 and Esplanade!

NikO Peaches is a fine commander, though the battle for MOOP be a fierce one.

Coyote Nose: It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Green

The MOOP Map had humble beginnings, but it’s no small deal these days. Just read this tale from Black Rock City Superintendent Tony “Coyote” Perez:

It was Tuesday after the Man had fallen and I was doing my annual roll around to advise and assist in the painful process that all share of removing the fat and colorful root that their grand camps had sunk into the playa over the week. Most are getting pretty stellar in their efforts having developed slick systems over the years, but some are new and learning — most times the hard way.

I rolled up on a hectic group that was wildly flapping their hands and arms at me. They were beckoning me over, seeing the DPW logos on my truck, and they were literally livid with emotion and strife. Many of them were in tears and some of the guys were shouldering murderous eyes with murderous intentions. They were members of a fairly large theme camp (some can be in the hundreds), and it seems that in the pre dawn night, some “complete idiot!” had driven what looked like a pretty large truck right through what remained of their camp and right over their very large and brimming grey water tank, annihilating it and creating a massive putrid mud mess! Nobody could stop the hit and run.

What were the first words out of their mouths when they stormed my truck window?

“Please help us! We don’t know how to deal with this kind of a mess! We didn’t do this – some asshole fucked us in the night! Please don’t red flag us on the MOOP map! We don’t want to get red flagged on the MOOP map!!!”

I calmed them down telling them that we would certainly work with them to solve our mutual problem, and that all would be well and together we would realize that ultimate nirvana and zen rush of achieving green on the MOOP map. And all the while, I was harboring an inner smile thinking, “Damn, that map is sure starting to grow some teeth!”

Ain’t nothing more powerful than a community that has developed that thing called a mind set. The Playa Restoration crew isn’t making the MOOP map greener every year, the participants are. The Resto crew is just making the strides to carefully document it the best they can. Sure, it will never be infallible, but it will always be a pretty good indicator as to whom we might at least start a conversation with.

— That’s all for today, folks. Tune in tomorrow, when we finish up the outer blocks and jump straight up to Esplanade! ‘Til then, this is The Hun signing off.

About the author: The Hun

The Hun

The Hun, also known as J.H. Fearless, has been blogging for Burning Man (and many other outlets) since 2005, which is also the year she joined the BRC DPW on a whim that turned out to be a ten-year commitment. Since then she's won some awards for blogging, built her own creative business, and produced some of the Burning Blog's most popular stories and series. She co-created a grant-funded art piece, "Refoliation," in 2007, and stood next to it watching the Man burn on Monday night during a full lunar eclipse. She considers that, in many ways, to have been the symbolic end of Burning Man that was. The Hun lives in Reno with DPW Shade King, Quiet Earp. You may address her as "The Hun" or "Hun". If you call her "Honey" she reserves the right to cut you.

10 Comments on “MOOP MAP LIVE, Day 2: It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Green

  • lemur says:

    The power of the moop map is undeniable!

    Seeing a big red mark on your “home” for that years event really can make people feel like they were doin’ it wrong.. as it should.. yep, it can even make you feel bad.. beshamed in public in front of everyone!

    most of us have good intentions, i think you can see that shown in the concern of people whove got red on the map in the past…. it sure does suck to have that happen.

    ‘youre burnier than thou when you actually care about your red camp on the moop map’

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  • G says:

    Our camp almost had the same situation. As soon as the population dropped, for some reason all manner of vehicle was driving right through our block within feet of my tent (you bastards!), only to end up on the “back ally” service road that runs just within Rod’s road. One large lost Ryde-her type truck having to back up, came within a foot of our grey water container before heeding our desperate hollering. Whew!

    Now the only concern is that the winds have blown hard the past two weeks and imported moop, or some evil prankster has used our camp site as a dump, masking our shoulder to shoulder efforts on exodus Monday.

    And as long as I am BS’ing here, I was pondering the idea of planting about 25 to 50 very tiny, shall we say, 1/8 inch sized objects all over the city, that qualify the finder to a free admission the next year, and publicize the hell our of the fact that they are out there. The easter egg hunt / win the lottery mentality might infect the masses to achieve ever higher green percentages. It would be fun to see just what % of these objects would be found and turned in. Could give some idea just how thorough the general population is actually being.

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  • tom says:

    Can you make the map bigger, so it’s easier to see details?

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  • nikOpeaches says:

    so…. g…. you want to spread 50 wood chip sized pieces of moop all around the city to see who picks them up, then who is OCD enough to search You out and give them back to you? Why not put your email and home address on them so we know where the feral forces of DPW can flop upon your couch after 2 months on playa? Advertise free beer and a fridge full of food and Maybe, just maybe, the dpw will appreciate your “art”. Maybe, again, these poor zombies will simply curse your name throw your tiny moopy gifts into their moop buckets and continue wandering the desert to pick up other people’s trash. Art is Art. Some art, especially business card invites to a particular camp or event, even w/ the best intention of the gifter, ends up buried in a dune somewhere in the city. Frankly, I encourage you to find some other way encourage people to pick up their trash. Invest in a moopstick (I use this 32″ model http://www.mohawkusa.com/G4DotReacher.html) and roll around the city During the Event searching for other’s moopy gifts. The trend can begin with you. Furry Boot Cover’s Out. Moop sticks IN!

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  • Rainbow says:

    Blessings and gratitude for all you all are doing to keep us going.
    The year that I left on Thursday after the Lamplighter Village teardown was complete, I was awestruck to see the pristine desert that remained and so proud when the entire village was green on the MOOP map. I can only imagine the work you all are doing now, but I vow when I can work the schedule I will be there to do it with you soon.
    Playa love and hugs,
    Rainbow

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  • Sam says:

    @G – I just got back from helping out on the first few days of Resto, and I used to have a similar concern about moop blowing in from neighboring areas. What I found is that the resto group are all veteran burners, and there is a good understanding of how moop moves around due to wind, which is taken into account when determining red zones, or deciding whether or not to intervene with a camp. If your area is found to have a lot of very light-weight things sitting on the surface, that is unlikely to cause a problem, since it clearly blew around. Conversely, items that commonly cause red zones, like wood chips, large grey-water dumps, etc., aren’t the kind of thing that get windblown anyway.

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  • Steve "O" My says:

    A higher resolution map PLEASE!

    There is a red dot near where I camped and I have to know if it was me!!!!

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  • veo says:

    Thank you for your wonderful work, DPW Restoration Crew!

    However, where oh where can someone get a FULL RESOLUTION map of the city, like the one underlying the moop map displaying all the theme camp placements? I’d LOVE LOVE LOVE to print one of those out on a plotter and use for either:

    A) A giant wall hanging where I encourage house guests to color.
    B) A map for an tabletop RPG game I’m going to DM with BRC as the city.
    C) A template for a shower curtain.

    Basically, I think it looks like rad Art.

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  • Corvus says:

    “Damn, that map is sure starting to grow some teeth!”

    You betcha. I’m part of a large theme camp and the past two years our piece of BRC was all green but a couple small hot spots. We never did figure what they might have been for 2009 but for 2010 one was in a spot that might have been moopish, the other was on the border so we were thinking it might have been out neighbors. Either way, we’d have been delighted to get some feedback as to what caused the hotspots.

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  • The Hun says:

    lemur – haha, ‘burnier than thou’… and yes, I too have camped in red zones before. It really does stick with you, and once you’ve been red you really don’t want it to happen again. This year, I was the last person from my department, out MOOPing our work zone in a dust storm and thinking about the MOOP Map!

    G – I love the easter egg idea!! If you do it, just make sure the items are big and shiny enough that our Line Sweeps are sure to find them easily later. It would suck to fail an inspection over well-intentioned MOOP gifts. As for MOOP blowing around, that definitely happens but, as Sam says, we generally have a good idea not just of where the MOOP originated but also of the camp’s general cleanliness. You won’t be scored yellow (and definitely not red) over things that blew in to your area.

    Tom – Yes!! We’re going to release a big ol’ hi-def version when this is all over. For now, hopefully the smaller version will suffice.

    Rainbow – Thanks! And yes, it really is a wonderful feeling to see the desert clean and lovely when you leave.

    Steve “O” My – oh no!! I hope it wasn’t you. We don’t have a higher resolution version that we’re ready to release yet, but we will at the end of the Restoration season. It’s just a couple of weeks, hang on ’til then… and anyway, I bet it wasn’t you. You clearly care enough to have MOOPed your site.

    veo – You know, I’m not sure how to get one of those maps!! Maybe you could contact the Theme Camp Placement department, I’m sure they’ve got the original file… that would be a very cool thing to have. Good luck.

    Corvus – We don’t generally give a lot of feedback on small hot spots, mostly because there are so many of them, and we just don’t have enough staff to accurately document the contents of each spot. We usually make a list of what types of MOOP were found in each block, so if that happens again, you might be able to get more information by requesting that list. I’m also going to be doing a post on the most common types of MOOP we find in hot spots, and how to prevent them or clean them up. Hopefully that’ll help you out!

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