Below is a letter from Bman on theme camps. I will try to forward them to camp mates via E-mail, but will will also try to post them here as they come.
If you are not on the camp email list, send your address to Email (at) Contraptionists.Com.

Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 17:37:35 -0700 From: Harley K. Dubois To: themecamps-announce@burningman.com Subject: [themecamps-announce] TC ANNC #4, '04/Health Department/LNT Contest/ Fire Dear Camps, Here is another announcement to pass along.......... _________________________________________ HEALTH DEPARTMENT Are you planning anything requiring large amounts of water? Are you hosting a large kitchen? Are you giving away food? Are you serving quantities of drinks over ice? Are you thinking you may need to get a Health Permit? If so read this announcement. WATER Water being used for misting systems, slip and slides and things that do not involve consumption do not need health department clearance. Large public pools and showers will not be permitted. Art pieces involving water are not considered showers unless they are labeled such and encourage bathing. Call me at 415 865-3800, ext 103 if you have questions. Large quantities of water (250 gallons +) being used for projects that entail greater contact with or consumption by people must be "potable" and come from state health department approved water sources. If you are bringing in a water truck or are hauling in large amounts of water you should call me. There are health department regulations that you need to be aware of. KITCHENS/ FOOD or DRINKS If you are providing beverages and/or food for your camp and friends no health permit is needed. PUBLIC kitchens of any sort need a permit. Remember, Burning Man does not tolerate the sale of anything at the event, including food. We have cultivated a gift economy. If you are caught selling or bartering food like currency the health department will shut you down if your neighbors don't get to you first! If you are giving food to the public you need a permit. Your CAMP MATES and FRIENDS are the only people you can give food to without health department clearance. If you have any questions please contact me 415 864-3800, ext 103. FRESH SQUEEZED JUICES If you are giving away freshly squeezed fruit drinks to anyone other than your CAMP MATES and FRIENDS you must get a permit. ICE Ice is considered food by the health department. Although there should be no permits needed for "free bars" or "barter bars" your ice source must be approved by state health. The easiest way to comply is to purchase your ice from commercial sources in the surrounding towns as you enter our city, or from us at the event. (Money from our ice sales goes directly back to the town of Gerlach as a gift. We make no profit on it.) APPLYING The health department has forms ready to send out to you. It costs about $50.00 to apply for a basic permit. The process is simple and the health department is generally easy to work with. They are genuinely concerned about the health of our citizens and prevention of food born epidemics. If you know you need a permit you can call the health department directly at 1 775 687-4750. If you are not completely sure about your particular needs I strongly advise you to call me before calling them at 415 865-3800, ext 103. They need about 4 weeks to process your permit so don't leave this to the last minute. Call me or them soon! This year I will be giving the health department a list of the permitted camps with their BRC addresses so the officials can find you easily for inspections. Make sure we know you are going for a permit so we can add you to our list! Please pass this information to who ever it concerns in your camp. I'll be waiting for your calls! ______________________________________________ Announcing LNT Tour and Camp of the Day Contest 2004 Got LNT? Are you a theme camp that knows how to create a clean, comfortable camp that leaves no trace on the playa? If your camp has some useful and interesting ways to camp smarter at Burning Man, then consider being part of the LNT Tour of the City. Now in its third year, the Tour features grey water systems, trash management, good neighbors, re-purposed structures, and camp showers and kitchens. This year's Tour will include creative examples of Reduce and Reuse! and some remarkably simple and efficient grey water systems. A number of camps are returning to Burning Man with the the same basic structures used in previous years. As for trash, we're meeting the challenges with more original solutions every year. Large-sound camps are finding ways to minimize imported trash by planning ahead. Each year we enjoy the fruits of a clean, beautiful, well organized City and come up with better ways to manage our trash and play, eat, and sleep in comfortable camps, We can now share our growing expertise and experience with other camps and participants. A model camp can showcase any practice or technology. Camps of all sizes and types are encouraged to join and must only be a registered theme camp and subscribe to the principles of Leave No Trace. Model camps are featured on a large informational map in the Earth Guardians Pavilion and are also eligible to win a coveted Camp of the Day award. In its fourth year, winners of the Camp of the Day contest are awarded free tickets to next year's event. Any camp can enter, but only those camps that are the best examples LNT camping in our fair city can win. These winning camps receive 2 tickets to BM 2005 and recognition in community media. For more information on Leave No Trace at Burning Man, check out http://earthguardians.burningman.com/lnt.html And if your theme camp would like to be part of this year's LNT Tour of the City or learn more about it, please contact Earth Guardians at lntcamps@comcast.net _________________________________________________ FIRE Playa Protection Plan 2002 Burn Clean **Elevated - Staked - Attended - Cleaned Up!** If you're planning on doing serious burning, be sure to check out: http://www.burningman.com/preparation/event_survival/burn_scars.html Guidelines - Tiki Torches, Candles and Lanterns Winds pick up without warning and blow things over -- tent fires have happened due to tiki torches, candles and lanterns being blow over in or around tents. This is VERY scary in a tent city! Unattended candles and torches are discouraged and safe use of lanterns is encouraged. Burn Scars Fires built directly on the playa surface create a burn scar or patch of discolored, hardened sediment that unaided takes years and years to fully recover. The process to manually restore them requires many hours of picking out residue by hand, breaking up the fired surface and dispersing discolored playa. It must be worked over again and again, year after year if the burn scar is bad enough. There are literally 100s of these in varying degrees of recovery on Black Rock. Not all of these are ours, but many are and it is our intention to make no new burn scars in 2003. Public Pyres Burning Man will be providing several public burn platforms (Public Pyres) approximately 100 feet away from the Esplanade at the end of every road, for participants to burn wood items without scarring the playa. They will be designated on the Black Rock City map. Every citizen near them will be asked to "adopt a Pyre" and help manage burning on it. Like years past the Pyres will be made out of corrugated tin sheeting, about 10" X 10" square. They will be elevated on bricks, cinder blocks or fabricated metal risers. This will insulate the playa from baking and contain ash and other nasty residue (eg. screws and nails) for easy clean up. Leave No Trace by not even letting it hit the ground! Carry your art or camp belongings to your Public Pyre. Watch it burn and cool. Then simply tip the metal to the side and slide the residue into a bag. Haul it on home when you leave. Simple and complete! Camp Fires and Fire Art Camp fires and fire art projects are not permitted in Black Rock City proper, with the exception of designated public areas. 55 gallon steel drum "burn barrels" with legs, staked down against high winds, will be provided for public use on the Esplanade. Groups camping near and using these will be asked to monitor them and help with their clean up. Commercially manufactured cooking equipment is the only acceptable fire sources for cooking within camps. Air Born Pollutants Do not burn PVC (nasty dioxins), carpets, plastic, large pieces of furniture (couches, futons, etc.). Glass does not burn, it shatters. Glass bottles thrown into a fire do not melt. Trust us. That's the worst place for glass bottles. So please discourage anyone from burning anything but appropriately sized untreated wood and paper. Plan your burning to include removal of ash and unburned residues after they have cooled. If you're hardcore, pick out recyclables (a magnet helps to find metal). Then bag up the rest to haul home. Be sure you clean up anything you burned on the public burn platforms. They're not dumping stations! Read the following excellent article written for more information on air born toxins: http://www.burningman.com/preparation/event_survival/toxic.html How are you going to burn SAFELY and follow the guide lines to keep your residue from hitting the ground? Please review your plans and make whatever changes necessary to accomplish this goal. We are looking forward to seeing the results! _________________________________________ Have a great weekend! Harley -- Harley K. DuBois Black Rock City LLC Community Services and Playa Safety 415 865-3800, ext 103