Before the event
- We will read the survival guide, complete our camp’s Leave No Trace Plan and share it with the entire camp, including our several first time members.
- We will plan the assembly and takedown of our structures and decorations, cleaning up as we go, and minimizing the amount of trash when possible.
- We will inventory vehicle space so that we can use as few vehicles as possible to reduce our footprint, while still packing everything out.
- We will take reduce waste whenever possible before reaching the playa, including food products. We will shop for food as a group, to remove redundant supplies, and reduce space. We will bring no glass, cheap trinkets, small feathers, and anything that might get left on the playa.
During the event
- We will check our camp daily, with a designated point person to patrol our public and performance areas.
- We will clean as we go.
- We will keep our recyclable, burnable, and non-burnable items clearly separated for easy disposal.
- We will recycle our aluminum, either on-site or back home.
- We will have special cleanup crews for any high traffic activities we host and take care of any trash left by guests, invited or otherwise.
- We won’t leave trash in or around the port-o-potties Our fires will be carefully maintained and constructed to not create any burn scars or damage to the playa.
- We will burn only clean untreated wood or paper (nothing synthetic) and follow the safety guidelines for fires and burn scar prevention.
- We won’t dig large holes or trenches.
- We will keep all items tied or weighted down, and leave papers at home.
- We will not dump any grey or black water on the playa.
- We will encourage members of our camp to carry a personal trash (MOOP) container and a cigarette butt container when they are outside camp.
After the event
- We will put aside time and have designated volunteers for the final cleanup – this team will be created of members not on the early arrival team, to avoid any one group being responsible for all the cleanup.
- We will take all trash in sealed containers to a landfill on the way home. After cleaning our camp, everyone in our camp will devote at least two hours, or more to the general city cleanup (e.g. trash fence, local port-o-potties, café, etc).
- We will leave extra space in every vehicle on the way to the desert, knowing that repacking will inevitably take up more space and ensure that no items can detach during the ride home.
- We will pack out everything, including any unevaporated gray water and scum.
- We won’t put trash in or around the port-o-potties.
- We will help out our neighbors and fellow citizens.
We will be Good Neighbors
- We will encourage our guests to bring their own beverage containers.
- We will help out our neighbors.
- We will adopt the space around our camp, making sure that it stays traceless.
- We will help careless or forgetful campers.
We will bring the following items for camp operations
Separate, sealed and labeled containers for recycling, burning, and trash (plastic buckets with lids, which can double as table space, chairs, etc.)
- Reusable dinnerware and utensils.
- A large water container for camp water supplies (no small containers)
- 5-gallon bucket and painter’s mesh for wet kitchen scraps.
- Containers for Grey water disposal.
- Containers for smokers’ butts Tarps or other floor covering to ‘catch’ any items that drop, including a extra large drop cloth for under our performance stage.
We will bring the following items for our camp’s breakdown and clean-up
- Big whiskbroom and push broom.
- Magnetic broom for stage area clean up.
- Flat blade shovel for burn scar restoration or dune MOOP.
- Rope and string for tying loose stuff down.
- Small spare bags for collecting trash as we wander.
- Bulk industrial strength trash bags.
- Long-handled sledgehammer for compacting 5-gallon buckets and driving stakes.
- Vise grips for removing stakes and rebar.
- Directions and hours of landfills and RV water dump stations.
- Vehicles and/or trailers to haul everything out.
-Our clean up team will use our perimeter cords, including our bike racks to define our boundaries. We break up any dunes that formed around vehicles or structures, then divide up our area and begin line sweeps. If we don’t have enough folks on our team to form one line across the site, we will break our space up into smaller areas and have each restoration volunteer deMoop their area. We will pick up all woodchips, broken glass, plastic debris, metal debris, fire works and plant material, using our magnetic broom where necessary. We complete restoration of any hotspots (micro-MOOP collections), or burnscars.
- We will try to give a helping hand to our neighbors
Black Rock Desert Restoration
- We will each perform at least 2 hours of community clean-up.
- We will pitch in with our fellow citizens and community service teams to restore the natural characteristics of the playa in our neighborhood, removing all burn scars, dunes, leftover debris, or other physical traces of our presence.
- We will participate in DPW line sweeps and local restoration efforts.
- We will volunteer for and support ecological protection and restoration of the Black Rock Desert