LNT Camp Lead responsibilities
1. Ensure everyone in your camp understands Firefly’s Leave No Trace guidelines.
Communicate the LNT Guidelines to your camp members before the start of the event, and make sure individuals in your camp comply with those guidelines. (Please please please look around for potentially MOOPy costume items!)
2. Have plans for trash, compost, and dishwashing.
- If group meals or any of your events will create trash, where will that go?
- What (if anything) counts as communal trash rather than personal trash?
- Who is responsible for taking any communal trash off-site after the event?
- How will you differentiate between trash, recycling, and compost?
- If you collect camp compost, who is responsible for bringing it to the central compost pile?
- If you have a camp dishwashing station, how will you ensure gray water is correctly disposed of?
3. Lead daily MOOP sweeps.
Lead (or designate volunteers from your camp to lead) daily MOOP sweeps of any spaces in your camp where you host guests or hold events. MOOP gets trampled and hidden under ground cover over time, so daily sweeps are important! Please complete your daily MOOP sweep before 2 pm each day (as well as an additional sweep right after any large events during the day).
4. Funnel lost & found items to MOMM
If you identify any Lost & Found items during your MOOP sweep, please bring them down to the central Lost & Found, which will again be MOMM (The Museum of Modern MOOP), located just up the path from upper parking. As a backup, we’ll send Lost & Found Heroes around to pick up items from 2-4 pm Wed-Sat and from 9-11 am Sun (but they won't make it to every camp every day).
In our experience, a lot of lost items aren't given to LNT until exodus or after the conclusion of the event. This makes it hard to get items back to their owners during the event, which is why we’re hoping to develop systems to funnel lost items to MOMM throughout the week.
To help with this, we recommend that you designate a “Camp Lost & Found” container to collect items that guests leave in your camp. You’ll also want to protect camp members’ belongings from getting swept up in the MOOP sweep; ideas for this include
- Designating specific spaces where people can safely leave their personal belongings, separate from general events areas
- Leaving at least an hour between the end of the MOOP sweep and the time when items will be taken to MOMM so camp members can check that none of their items got swept
- Providing labels and sharpies to encourage people to put their name on anything they might accidentally leave out
5. Lead a final MOOP sweep of your camp during Exodus.
Your last responsibility as camp LNT lead is to ensure that your camp has left no trace on its designated area. To do this, lead a final line sweep across your entire area (everything you roped off during Placement). Plan this for after most tents and infrastructure have been broken down, but before everyone has left — line sweeps are much faster and more thorough when you have more people!
To conduct a line sweep, form a line where everyone is able to touch fingers with arms outstretched (closer if possible). Walk in a line, at the same pace. If someone is getting ahead or falling behind, regroup. Don’t forget to look up in trees, into ferns, and under ground cover. You can use a long stick or your foot to move around the leaf litter, poke into ferns and find objects that may have gotten buried. People often leave bungee cords, tent stakes, and other items that aren’t easy to spot.
If you will not be the last person at your camp, please make sure you delegate this task to a trusted campmate. The LNT core will reach out to both you and your camp leads if we find excessive MOOP left in your area.
Camps that leave excessive MOOP risk having future Placement Applications held for review.