Greetings MOOP maniacs and line sweepers extraordinaire! The Hun here, typing with gloves on. Yes, winter has socked the Playa Restoration All-Star team a good one these past few days, with temperatures in the 30s and rude winds poking icy fingers under our collars and down our backs. Just a week ago, we were basking in bikinis. Today, we’re wearing all the clothes we own.

Playa Restoration ends next Wednesday with the BLM site inspection. Between now and then, the Resto All-Stars are braving the wind and weather to pick up all the MOOP we can find and return the playa surface to a pristine state.

Changes to the MOOP Map

As I’ve mentioned before, the MOOP Map you see on this blog is a record of our progress — but it’s a living document, not the final map. Once we record all the data, we cross-check it thoroughly and make changes where appropriate. Today’s map may look very slightly different, so have another look at your spot!



An Open Letter to Black Rock City about the MOOP Map

From D.A., Playa Restoration Manager:

Dear Black Rock City, The MOOP Map is a working record of our speed of progress, and we haven’t finalized all the exact locations. While we are confident in our MOOP Map findings, they are by no means final; it takes longer than the two week Restoration period to actually comb through all the MOOP data. Even when the map is all colored in, it is still not final until we say it’s final, weeks from now. Once we’re done and satisfied with the findings, we will release the final MOOP Map and give the Placement team a full report that they can use to talk to camps. As you know, we are under a tight deadline to finish mooping the city in time for the BLM inspection. Nevertheless, we are committed to releasing our daily progress on the MOOP Map. We are now in the review stage, where we triple check all our data and GPS waypoints. We love and support all the theme camps of Burning Man, and the MOOP Map is not meant to be taken personally or shamefully. We understand that theme camps spend an entire week gifting to the Burning Man community, and sometimes fall short of Leaving No Trace as a result of the massive scale of their endeavors. We are proud to back all of your LNT efforts, and support the unquantifiable beauty of our community. We thank all the citizens of Black Rock City for your LNT efforts, and for the immeasurable contributions you bring. For those who have yellow or red scores, we only ask for improvement so that Burning Man can continue to happen as we all work together to Leave No Trace. — D.A.

Playa Restoration Manager

Black Rock City Department of Public Works

Burning Man

And now, the MOOP Map

Without any further ado, here is your MOOP Map, Day 5.

REMEMBER: This is a work in progress, not the final map. Obviously.

MOOP Map Legend: GREEN: GO! GO! GO! The Line Sweep moves quickly because it’s clean. Minimal time and effort spent in this location.

YELLOW: Caution! The Line Sweep moves at a stop-and-go pace. Moderate time and effort spent in this location.

RED: Full stop. The Line Sweepers are on their hands and knees. A ton of MOOP. Extensive time and effort in this location. Wondering what the black dots are? Those are the locations where we found larger items left behind on the playa last week: trash bags, abandoned tents, scaffolding, anything bigger than a bread box. All those items have been removed, but we do record their GPS points.

With just a few outer streets remaining, Black Rock City is looking FANTASTIC. Great job, everyone!

Tune in again soon to find out how the outer streets and open playa are looking! It’s all coming up in future installments of MOOP Map Live 2013.

See more photos from Playa Restoration 2013 on Flickr.