MOOP Map 2016: Day Three — Resto vs. the Forecast

Hello from Playa Restoration, where the dust has subsided and we can finally see. As of day three, we still haven’t had a full day’s work due to a little rain, but we’re churning along quickly anyways.

To review, Day One of Resto was a three-quarters day. Day Two was a half day. Day Three was a day off due to weather, so it doesn’t count, so Day Four Is Day Three — which also ended up being a half day due to weather. Still, look what Resto got done:

Your line sweep crews finished MOOPing the back blocks, from 6:45 and out to 10:15 beyond the city grid. Then they started at 6:30 between Esplanade and C, and made it all the way to 10. And then! They moved through 6:30 to 7:30 between C and G … because that was the clearest, non-dustiest spot on-playa to be.

It’s been windy. The playa looks like someone took an air compressor to it. There are serpentine dunes in places though. We kick through those on the lines; some might have moop stuck in them. Mostly serpentines happen on-playa on their own, when the wind not only blows but blows turbulently. Like those youtube videos where someone puts a pile of grains on a speaker and the grains bounce into patterns ... the wind dances with the loose playa on the desert floor.
It’s been windy. The playa looks like someone took an air compressor to it. There are serpentine dunes in places though. We kick through those on the lines; some might have moop stuck in them. Mostly serpentines happen on-playa on their own, when the wind not only blows but blows turbulently. Like those youtube videos where someone puts a pile of grains on a speaker and the grains bounce into patterns … the wind dances with the loose playa on the desert floor.

Out in the field, cones mark hot spots Special Forces hone in on and “kill” (make clean). Special Forces are moving one half a block at a time, because of the ominous clouds this Day Three morning.

Bobtuse has to bust dunes at Point One, but can’t do it ‘til we’re gone, because he might make a whiteout with the dunebuster swishing playa everywhere. So he’s going to kill his own cones, and if they’re too MOOPy he’ll call in Special Forces or even a line sweep. Bobtuse then gives directions about where it’s safe for Special Forces to start painting the playa with their truck wheels by un-driving the roads, making efforts to even out any ruts caused by vehicles driving in rain.

Bustin Dustin, who has an even more specialized job within Special Forces, started checking art points today — visiting the big sculpture sites and assessing whether he can sweep the area alone or needs to call Special Forces to help. Later the Resto crew will line-sweep the open playa, so it’ll go a lot faster if it’s clear of these hot spots.

his is Resto's first encounter with the new technology in tent stakes. These have two links of chain attached for fastening, and theyy seem hardy as can be, plus easy to install with an impact wrench or impact driver. So then, maybe the owners of the dozen or so of these things left behind thought they weren't so easy to uninstall. But even if your impact-driver-owning campmate has gone already, you CAN pull these out with vise grips. TL;DR mind all your tent stakes and keep a vise grip in camp.
This is Resto’s first encounter with the new technology in tent stakes. These have two links of chain attached for fastening, and they seem hardy as can be, plus easy to install with an impact wrench or impact driver. So then, maybe the owners of the dozen or so of these things left behind thought they weren’t so easy to uninstall. But even if your impact-driver-owning campmate has gone already, you CAN pull these out with vise grips. TL;DR mind all your tent stakes and keep a vise grip in camp.

In case readers at home are curious, when a Line Sweeper encounters a hot spot on the line, they call for an Oscillator by raising their MOOP stick in the air. The line’s designated Oscillator comes over in their truck with brooms, rakes, magnet rakes, shovels, and cans. Or, if the spot is so hot it’d hold up the line to try to tackle it, the Oscillator cones it for Special Forces to visit.

These are the cones Special Forces kills. Upright cones mark the MOOPy dunes they’ll have to go through by hand; laid-down cones mark the non-MOOPy dunes Bobtuse can drag and bust mechanically.

Here we encounter the rarely seen and even less frequently photographed RAVE LION. A physical embodiment of the spirit of Weldboy, former line boss and now adult-things-doer, the Rave Lion is ferocious but fortunately a heavy sleeper and sometimes too apathetic to bite. If Rave Lion has anything to say to the Resto crew, it's this: Resto is almost over, so keep your shit tight, and know where the F you're gonna go in a week.
Here we encounter the rarely seen and even less frequently photographed RAVE LION. A physical embodiment of the spirit of Weldboy, former Line Boss and now adult-things-doer, the Rave Lion is ferocious but fortunately a heavy sleeper and sometimes too apathetic to bite. If Rave Lion has anything to say to the Resto crew, it’s this: Resto is almost over, so keep your shit tight, and know where the F you’re gonna go in a week.

Often there is a ‘seeker,’ as playa Restoration Manager D.A. calls them, posted up in the front of the line, opposite the Oscillator behind the line, armed with a landscaping rake, prepping and splitting up dunes and serpentines for the oncoming line.

Line sweeps keep their MOOP separate from infrastructure trash or placement flags, so Resto can document how much MOOP there was. Special Forces and Oscillators both carry cans in the back of their trucks: red for DPW’s personal trash, green for playa, and grey for MOOP.

Special items line sweepers find will often try to get them to Playa Info so the person it belongs to can be reunited with it. Why, just today, DPW Power manager Easygoin’, who met fellow line sweeper Mrs. Pants out here and married her, mooped a wedding ring he’s about to try to see about returning to its burning wife or hubby.

[UPDATE: The ring, as it turns out, was not engraved with Gaelic for wedding reasons but instead, it seriously has Elvish writing on it and some Resto crewmembers are fairly certain it may be the One Ring to Rule Them All And In The Darkness Bind Them. Easygoin’ said something about packing up and leaving Resto with Mrs. Pants to head to Mount Doom and throw the ring in a volcano … then he disappeared.]

Here we uh, encounter the uh, rarely seen and even less frequently photographed FRAYWIRE ZIPTIE SCORPION of the Black Rock Desert. The DPW have captured a few of these creatures and are trying to train them to eat wood chips. So far the Fraywires are unresponsive but maybe they're frightened or dehydrated.
Here we uh, encounter the uh, rarely seen and even less frequently photographed FRAYWIRE ZIPTIE SCORPION of the Black Rock Desert. The DPW have captured a few of these creatures and are trying to train them to eat wood chips. So far the Fraywires are unresponsive but maybe they’re frightened or dehydrated.

A feeling is growing within the ranks, of both familiarity and pride. We have done this for a while now. We have learned many lessons. We can do it faster and better than ever before. We are good at this.

By ‘we,’ once again, we mean the citizens of Black Rock City. Both D.A. and Phoenix Firestarter, head of Special Forces, agree that this may be one of the cleanest years out here, possibly ever. And that’s not blowing smoke. That’s because of y’all.

Resto’s job is to support the Burning Man community’s Leave No Trace effort but we can’t do it for y’all. So give yourselves a hand; results show that so far in 2016, Black Rock City has cause to (tentatively) congratulate itself. We’re learning this LNT routine well, and hopefully radiating it outwards to others who could use an efficient way to clean up their favorite public lands.

Hanging out in town because the dust blew us back in? Yes please. We make a big show of complaining about not working but then there's this beauty in Gerlach everywhere too
Hanging out in town because the dust blew us back in? Yes please. We make a big show of complaining about not working but then there’s this beauty in Gerlach everywhere too.

Here in the Black Rock Desert, Day Three of Resto started with a pop-up storm cloud over Granite peak in the western mountain range. The weather’s gotten colder, and there were rolling whiteouts all day, but no brownouts. Our resident mariner and amateur weather expert KLouie consulted with DA about what the sky was about to do. The big water wasn’t supposed to come ‘til 1pm.

That rain cloud broke up over the mountain soon after the consultation. Half an hour later, here came the wind, bringing dust, and KLouie called on the radio for a face-to-face with D.A., meaning he was having doubts. The system just shifted in two minutes, prompting KLouie — who was looking at the flag on Stinger’s truck for wind direction — to say we may be OK again. We’re getting near-missed by a storm that’s just right over there, he says.

Sun sets across from Burning Man's main office in this old cowboy town, with the auxiliary office to the right that's actually an old jailhouse. Come in to get a charged battery for your crew radio; stay for the fantasies about what kind of folks had been in there before we were even alive.
Sun sets across from Burning Man’s main office in this old cowboy town, with the auxiliary office to the right that’s actually an old jailhouse. Come in to get a charged battery for your crew radio; stay for the fantasies about what kind of folks had been incarcerated in there before we were even alive.

They collectively made the decision to stay, then — you guessed it — maybe 15 minutes later the wind changed again, another cloud formation popped up, and water from the sky came out of nowhere.

So D.A. re-altered plans and we loaded up in maybe 30 seconds and hightailed it to the shoreline in an increasing rain, evacuating fast enough not to get stuck — a fleet of buses Mad Max-ing across the desert (in sleet now) neck-in-neck at a blistering 35mph.

 

And yes. We know what you’re looking for. Day Three’s MOOP map report is similar to always: Green swaths with some yellow and even less red, and a couple boo-boo areas.

Reminder: The MOOP map is a work in progress and things may be updated with changes. We double-check all this data below . After the BLM Site Inspection, all data is correlated and MOOP feedback begins in January. Priority for MOOP feedback goes to red camps. The less MOOPy your camp, the less likely we will have feedback for you. Be advised that MOOP feedback requests do not go to D.A. and the Resto team — contact the Placement team: placement at burningman dot org.

Read 'em and sweep
Read ’em and sweep

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About the author: Summer Burkes

Summer Burkes

Summer Burkes has been rousting about at Burning Man since 1998. She first met her dusty DPW / Cyclecide / Bike Club fam-dambly on the back of The Bucket. A Cacophony Society enthusiast, Summer loves explosions and cake.

15 Comments on “MOOP Map 2016: Day Three — Resto vs. the Forecast

  • Franko says:

    will there be scalable, larger versions of the map posted for each day? these old eyes are having a hard time with the current ones.

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  • Supervision says:

    Dillon! I met that guy out there, what a beauty! Thanks for all your hard work!

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  • Grace Kathy Barton says:

    I really enjoy reading your posts. Very readable, informative, and entertaining. Thanks for taking the time, and for all you and your brethren do for us.

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  • ratty says:

    Thank you so much for your hard work. The playa was very forgiving this year when it came time to pull out the rebar. BTW…A pipe wrench will ‘unscrew’ rebar or lag bolts in a matter of seconds.

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  • Andy Daniel says:

    As an early adopter of lag screws, let me offer the following two bits of advice:

    1) These things are great, but don’t hammer them in. If you hammer them, you might deform the head, making it impossible to get your socket to grab it when it’s time to remove. (I made that mistake once when my genie quit on me – the 4 deformed heads took an extra hour to remove, the other 20 came out quickly) I carry a “sacrificial” extra socket and a hammer. If I ever HAVE TO, I will hammer on the extra socket, not the lag screw itself, protecting the head. If I deform the extra socket, no big deal.

    2) I also carry an 18″ breaker bar with a 1/2″ drive socket. If your impact driver or power source fails, these will get the lag screw out with not too much effort. They are NOT expensive ($20 or less)

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    • Andymon says:

      At Pancake Playhouse we used a 3/8 speed bar (and optional extension) with the correct socket to remove the lags once the power tools had been put away (and buried) in the truck. Easy peasy.

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  • Snarky Fuck says:

    This can’t be said enough times so I’ma say it again: thank you Resto Crew and the rest of DPW for everything you do! Rock on, brothers and sisters.

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  • Grey says:

    Three cheers and a tiger (or was that a Rave Lion?) for the fearless forces of Resto! Without you guys there would never be another burn. Thank you for all you do!

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  • Marc Aubin says:

    To say ‘Thank You’ just doesn’t seem to be enough.
    But…
    …Thank You!

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  • Jetpack says:

    I have a hard time believing this was not a moopy year. I came across and picked up more moop this year than I EVER have…significantly more than ever before.

    Resto Crew, y’all are awesome.

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    • discoball says:

      Perhaps the lack of moop discovered by the resto crew now is due to good souls like you who picked up the moop left behind by others as the event proceeded.

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