I assume trilobyte's reference to MOOP is all of the concern about Tex's past idea of a mass distribution on the playa of 55,000 little plastic bags, 55,000 red plastic noses and 55,000 cards. Nice to know it wasn't an issue for Playa Resto, but any within the BRC perimeter is easily cleaned up, it's out past the fence that there's concern.
catinthefunnyhat wrote:Sftex, I have no doubt of your passion and sincere belief in the potential of the red nose as a gift to the world, but I think that passion might be clouding your judgment a bit. Just... think. Try to imagine the ultimate consequences if things go wrong. Think of dead birds being found with their bellies full of these, or of BM losing its land-use license due to 1000 red noses being recovered from a nearby waterway. If one of these things happened, would you still think bringing all these noses to the playa was the right decision?
Fortunately for MOOP, the logistics & distribution were a limiting factor, so Tex scaled it down. And he eventually got thinking about limiting the MOOP risk: no little bags, distribution barrels, etc.. Then there was some concern about having barrels,
... and full of little red plastic noses tumble-weeds. Someone was worried people might think it fun to tip a barrel over and set the red balls “free”.
So, I only saw the barrel at center camp cafe once, on the Saturday afternoon from around 20 to 30 feet away. In my brief time there, two people walked up and deposited 'gifts', fortunately looking like paper bags (hopefully nothing wet or sticky inside). So I was wondering if that was an isolated event, or if that was a problem with that or other nose distribution barrels. And I can't recall hearing about how that nose project went that year.
As to MOOP noses found/not-found.
Unfortunately,
Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence, particularly with playa winds.
Just_Joe wrote:Seriously.... I put one of these on the other day here in N. Nevada with a typical 25-30 mph afternoon wind ablowin'. It lasted about 5 seconds. These things tend to want to work their way off your nose and the wind just speeds up the process. As light as they are, once airborne, theys travel at pretty much the speed of the air around them.
Given the playa winds, the chance of finding any that got MOOPed still around for Playa Resto? Pretty much nil. Look up the other end of the Black Rock Playa. Or look 20 miles past the playa out into the Black Rock Desert. 50 miles? 100 miles? It appears it would depend on how strong the wind was. I'd guess at least the wider they're distributed the more they're diluted from affecting wildlife/plants/ecosystem in one area, unless they end up somewhere fragile. And the further out, the less chance they'd be tracked back to BRC. Not sure what the BLM would think about this though.
