Hello all you MOOP maniacs and line sweepers extraordinaire! It’s an exciting time out here in the ruins of Black Rock City, where the Playa Restoration team is sweeping through the city grid at an unprecedented pace. They knocked out another 54 blocks in their third day on the field, making quick work of the inner blocks where you, I and most of our friends made our homes.

How did YOUR camp score on the MOOP Map? Read on to find out.

Stop Before You Start: MOOP Prevention Tactics

We all know we need to keep our MOOP under control in order to pass the annual BLM inspection, so Burning Man can keep happening in the Black Rock Desert. But actually controlling that MOOP is a unique challenge, and one we can only perfect through experience.

That’s where YOU come in, Black Rock City! Do you have special tricks for pesky MOOP like wood chips, gray water, burn barrel cinders? Please, share them in the comments. Here are a few of our favorites:

DO NOT BRING branches, hay bales, feathers, glitter, pistachios and other extra-MOOPy items. Not sure whether it’s MOOPy? Stomp on it, throw it, wave it around in the wind, subject it to a little abuse and see if it breaks into tiny little pieces.

Put a tarp under your firewood pile, and sweep around it daily.

If you’re doing construction on the playa, pick up some used billboard vinyl and stake it down throughout your construction area. Sweep it off daily, or after every major sawing spree.

Build a cinder-catcher for your burn barrel: Take a 4′ square of plywood and attach a lip around all the edges, at least a few inches high. When you place your barrel in the center, it’ll catch what falls out and help keep it from blowing away.

If you’re using carpet or fake grass, use a propane torch to melt the edges, so they’ll resist fraying.

Use mats or grates to keep your camp from walking in wet spots near your water jugs or showers. After the event’s over, break up any water spots with a rake or shovel — and if there’s hair and other MOOP embedded in the dirt, please, throw it away.

Thanks to the amazing nikOpeachZ, one of our MOOP Line Bosses, for these tips!

What else ya got, Black Rock City? Chime in below.

Day 3 Results

And here it is folks: The one and only MOOP Map.

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.

Lookin’ pretty good out there, folks. Today, the MOOP Line swept from 2:00 to 7:00 between Foxglove and Iris, and for the most part, they sailed through without a care.

Unfortunately, there were a few spots — especially those camps from 2:00 to 3:00 between F and G — that slowed our intrepid team down. Those yellow zones take a lot more time to clean up, but the MOOP Line powered through … until they reached 5:30, which happens to be a place many DPW call home for about six weeks of the year. Yes, that’s right, we left ourselves a yellow zone to clean up at our very own camp. But clean it up we did, with a shared resolve to Do Better Next Year.

Most of you out there know about Doing Better Next Year, and overall today was a big win for YOU, Black Rock City. Congratulations on keeping it clean, and here’s to all of us who keep finding new ways to stop MOOP and fight the Leave No Trace battle!

For now, this is The Hun, fighting on.

Photo by Vertumnus!