four corners — a brief history - plsc · northwest 1/4 colorado land surveyors president: gordon...

Professional Land Surveyors of Colorado Volume 41, Issue 3

August 2010

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Diana Askew, PLSPLSC, Inc.PO Box 704Conifer, CO 80433

Four Corners —A Brief History

page 7

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SIDE SHOTS • 3

PPrrooffeessssiioonnaall LLaanndd SSuurrvveeyyoorrss ooff CCoolloorraaddoo,, IInncc..

AFFILIATE—NATIONAL SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL SURVEYORS

MEMBER—COLORADO ENGINEERING COUNCILMEMBER—WESTERN FEDERATION OF

PROFESSIONAL SURVEYORS

OOFFFFIICCEERRSS ((22000099))

Tom T. AdamsPresident

1210 24th Lane • Pueblo, CO 81006O: (719) 546-5454 F: (719) 546-5414

Michael M. GreerVice President

7174 Union Street • Arvada, CO 80004O: (303)271-8787 F: (303) 271-8706

Diana E. AskewExecutive Director/Secretary-Treasurer

PO Box 704 • Conifer, CO 80433H: (303) 838-7577 F: (303) 838-7179

22000099 PPLLSSCC CCHHAAPPTTEERR OORRGGAANNIIZZAATTIIOONN

CCEENNTTRRAALL CCOOLLOORRAADDOO PPRROOFFEESSSSIIOONNAALL SSUURRVVEEYYOORRSSPresident Joe Conway: 303-638-7371 (O)

Vice President, James “JJ” Rihanek; Secretary, Norm SimonsonTreasurer, Aaron Willis

Directors: Earl Henderson, Jim Beatty, Rob Snodgrass, Chris Raml,Jim Holben, Warren Ruby, Shawn Clarke

NNOORRTTHHEERRNN CCHHAAPPTTEERR -- PPLLSSCC,, IINNCC..President: Ron Perkins: 970-420-5542 (O)

President-elect: Carl Sumpter; Secretary/Treasurer, Rob HintzDirectors: Bennie Salgado, Laine Landau, Bob Edmonds,

Steve Varriano

NNOORRTTHHWWEESSTT 11//44 CCOOLLOORRAADDOO LLAANNDD SSUURRVVEEYYOORRSS

President: Gordon Dowling 970-276-3613 (O)Vice President, John C. Noonan; Secretary/Treasurer, Brian T. Kelly

Directors: Thomas H. Effinger, Jeffry A. Gustafson

SSOOUUTTHHEERRNN CCOOLLOORRAADDOO PPRROOFFEESSSSIIOONNAALL LLAANNDD SSUURRVVEEYYOORRSS

President Mark Johannes: 719/633-8533 (O)Vice President: Joe Alessi; Secretary: Bill Brooks;

Treasurer: Daniel HantenDirectors: Nathan Lira, Dennis Craig,

Steve Parker Mike Bouchard, Jon Tessin

SSOOUUTTHHWWEESSTTEERRNN CCHHAAPPTTEERR -- PPLLSSCC,, IINNCC..President Robert L. Trudeaux: 970/247-1705 (O)Vice President, Tom E. Au; Secretary, Parker Newby

Treasurer, Ed Young

WWEESSTTEERRNN CCOOLLOORRAADDOO LLAANNDD SSUURRVVEEYYOORRSSPresident Tom Sylvester: [email protected]

Vice President: Richard Bullen; Sec’y-Treas.: Brian BowkerDirectors: Rick Mason, Leslie Doehling, Patrick Green, Jonathan

Kobylarz, Dennis Shellhorn, Scott Thompson, Peter Krick and Mike Drissel

CCOOLLOORRAADDOO SSPPAATTIIAALL RREEFFEERREENNCCEE NNEETTWWOORRKKPresident: Dan Smith: 303-512-4401

Vice President, Brian Dennis; Secretary, Jan Sterling; Treasurer, Todd Beers

Directors: Matthew Barr, Pam Fromhertz, Lawrence deVries, Jack Sparks, Daniel Akin

Side Shots is the official publication of the Professional Land Surveyors of Colorado, Inc. and is published quarterly for the betterment of the surveying profession.

Tom T. Adams Michael GreerPresident Vice President

For Editorial Correspondence, contact:John B. Guyton

Editor: Side Shots3825 Iris Ave., Boulder, CO 80301

303-443-7001 • [email protected] publication is not copyrighted and articles may be reprinted with due credit.

Statements made and opinions expressed are from the contributors and do not necessarily express the official views of the Professional Land Surveyors of Colorado, Inc.

Deadlines for editorials, articles, pictures and advertising are January 1, April 1,July 1 and October 1. All material received after the current deadline will appear

in the next issue of Side Shots.

We would like to invite anyone who is interested to advertise in Side Shots. Do you have something you want to sell, trade or buy? Why not use Side Shots for your

next ad? We can also reproduce business cards for advertising. Ad space reservation must bearranged with Diana Askew, PO Box 704 Conifer, CO 80433; 303-838-7577. Ad copy may be

sent to: [email protected] before the editorial deadline (January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1).

Current Advertising Rates:Business card size or less - Member $25.00; Non-member $30.00

One-Half Page - Member $115.00; Non-member $150.00Full Page - Member $225.00; Non-member $300.00

Color advertisements — add 33 percent

SIDE SHOTSA u g u s t J o u r n a l 2 0 1 0

Volume 41 Number 3

� President’s Letter ........................................4

� From the Editor ............................................5

� Four Corners – A Brief History.....................7

� Control Points – The Metre ........................11

� State Board Update....................................12

� Update on Metro State’s

Surveying Program ....................................13

� WFPS Board of Directors

Meeting Report...........................................15

� PLSC Board Minutes..................................18

� Chapter News ............................................24

� Survey Stories ...........................................27

� All Experience Counts ...............................28

� Sustaining Members .................................30

On the cover: Photo by Jan Kronsell, 2006, from wikipedia.com

SIDE SHOTS • 4

DEDICATED TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF LAND SURVEYING EDUCATION AND PRACTICE.

Dear Fellow members:

I hope the summer is serving you well. All indications arethat the economy in Colorado has yet to pick up substantially, sothe PLSC is still trying to keep afloat in these tough economictimes. We have suffered an understandable loss of membershipthis year, and as we plan our newly combined annual conferencein early 2011, the lack of a technical session in 2010 also has anegative effect on this year’s budget.

I am pleased that the legislative committee has met most of their goals forthe year. The PLSC board of directors has elected to suspend the use of a lobbyistfor the time being because of our economic status and since we do not have any pro-posed laws pending. One other service the lobbyist always provided was watchingthe current proposed legislative bills and notifying us when anything that might be ofconcern to land surveyors comes up. We have lost that service from our lobbyist,and hope we can keep our own eye on the respective legislative issues for the timebeing. Additionally, the PLSC is participating in the rule-making process of the StateBoard, as well as gearing up for working with the State Board next year for the 2013sunset review. If you see any problems with the current laws or rules, please let usknow. You may contact me or any director on the board you choose and let us knowyour concerns. We can add your topic to the agenda if it seems appropriate. RogerNelson is the chair of the legislative committee and is always on the lookout for leg-islative issues that should be addressed.

Please keep in mind that we have a new election coming up for the PLSCOfficers and Directors at the end of this year. If you have ideas or things you wouldlike to see the PLSC pursue, you can contact one of the directors and/or you shouldconsider running for a position on the board. It is an all-too-common misconceptionthat state societies like PLSC are some kind of public agency. Not true. The officersand directors (besides the executive director) are all volunteers, men or women likeyou who are trying to make a living at our day jobs, while working to make a differ-ence for the profession on the side. You too can make a difference. If you know ofsomething you think the PLSC should be doing, then step up and see if you can helpget it done.

I urge all of our current members to encourage their fellow employees orassociates to become new members. Non-licensed surveyors can also becomeassociate members. If you have any other ideas of how we can increase member-ship, contact Mike Bouchard, who is the chair of the Membership Committee. Andplease keep in mind, our profession would not be where it is today without years ofPLSC representation at the State Legislature to protect both land surveyors and Col-orado consumers. Let’s keep up the support of the PLSC to maintain our progressinto the future.

Sincerely, Tom Adams, PLS

PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYORS OF COLORADO, INC.P.O. Box 704 Conifer, CO. 80433

AFFILIATE – NATIONAL SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL SURVEYORSMEMBER- WESTERN FEDERATION OF PROFESSIONAL SURVEYORS

OFFICERS (2009-2010MICHAEL M. GREER

VICE PRESIDENTO: (303) 271-8787

[email protected] .

TOM ADAMSPRESIDENT

O: (719) [email protected]

JOHN B. GUYTONPAST PRESIDENTWFPS DELEGATEO: (303) 443-7001

[email protected]

DIANA E. ASKEWEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

SECRETARY-TREASURERO: (303) 838-7577

[email protected]

DIRECTORS (2007-2010)

DOUGLAS R. BERLINGH: (303) 252-1861

MICHEAL BOUCHARDO: (719) 590-9194

RUSSELL CLARKO: (719) 633-8533

ROGER D. NELSONO: (303) 353-3916

DIRECTORS (2009-2012)

PETER KENTO: (720) 865-3116

GARY D. GABLEO: (303) 422-0199

PATRICK GREENO: (970) 245-4099

STAN VERMILYEAO: (303) 796-4640

WFPS DELEGATE (2009-2010)

DAVID C. DIFULVIOO: (303) 692-8838

NSPS GOVERNOR (2009-2010)

WARREN D. WARDO: (970) 725-3347

SIDE SHOTS • 5

We all have persevered througha very difficult economy, and I hopethat you are seeing at least some ofthe normal, seasonal pickup in sur-veying activity in your area.

There has been a decline inmembership renewals for this year,and the Board of Directors is cuttingspending and trying to find ways toraise revenue to close a budget gap.These cuts threaten our mission ofdelivering educational opportunitiesand services to our membership.One of the ways that the PLSC canraise some additional revenue is toencourage more corporate sponsor-ships to support PLSC initiativesthat would otherwise go unfunded.Some examples would be for a lob-byist, paying the fees for qualityspeakers, or for public awarenessinitiatives like the Four Corners re-monumentation project. In return, acorporate sponsor receives recogni-tion in our highly specific market ofprofessional surveyors.

If you work for a company, or

know of an appropriate vendor,please consider asking them tobecome a Sustaining Member. Youcan see the current list on the lastpage of this issue. If you do busi-ness with them, or may do so in thefuture, it’s always a great idea tomention to them that you saw theirlisting in Side Shots and appreciatetheir support of the PLSC. ContactDi Askew, our Executive Director,for details.

Either way, their support helpsour members, it helps their busi-ness, and helps us to continue ourmission of education and network-ing for those of us in the profession.

In this issue, our featured storyby Earl Henderson is about the his-tory of the Four Corners, a timelytopic because of recent news cover-age, and also because the monu-ment itself is undergoing a renova-tion. Warren Andrews continues hisexcellent Control Points series, fea-turing The Metre. And Dean Glorsoand Jim Sommerville have provided

us with some personal insights onthe profession.

There is also an importantupdate from Carol Svendsen onchanges to the Metro State Survey-or Program, and a report from theDepartment of Regulatory Agencies(DORA) by Angie Kinnard Linn.Our Executive Director, DianaAskew, has also contributed min-utes from four Board of Directorsmeetings thatwere held sinceour last issue –be sure to readthose to see thelatest topics andissues under dis-cussion.

As always,your commentsand contributions of material forSide Shots are always welcome.Enjoy the rest of the summer!

JB GuytonEditor

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SIDE SHOTS • 7

On April 19, 2009 a story made it onto the AssociatedPress that was picked up by almost every major newsnetwork, indicating that the Four Corners monumentisn’t in the correct location. The Four Corners monu-ment is certainly one of, if not the most famous surveymonument in our country. It appears as though thisstory started with an article in the Deseret News of SaltLake City, UT written by Lynn Arave. Lynn makes somevery extravagant claims based on Google Earth meas-urements and Geocachers which should make everyland surveyor feel insulted. I know I do.

I personally saw news broadcasts in Denver, CO fea-turing my friend, Randy Zanon, who was at that time theChief Cadastral Surveyor for the BLM Denver Office.Randy, who has since retired, stated in no uncertainterms that the monument marked the very pointof the intersection of the state lines, yetthe local reporter insisted on trying tofeed the flames of controversy atthe end of the report, stating thatthe monument was still 1500’off. Even after repeatedattempts by myself to con-tact the news desk at thelocal TV station, no onewas interested in correct-ing their poor reporting ofthe story. I take this as anexample of the currentstate of affairs, and thevalue of current newsreporting. But that’s justmy opinion and not the sub-ject of this article.

In addition to not under-standing the concept of originalmonumentation the way survey-ors are supposed to, Lynn didn’t dohis homework. But then none of the

reporters of this story did, they simply picked it off thewire and repeated it. The story claimed that the intend-ed location for the monument was 109° west longitudeand 37° north latitude. Neither of these is correct.

The story of the Four Corners monument begins in1868 when Ehud Darling surveyed 37° north latitude asdescribed in the enabling act of 1864 describing 37°north latitude as the south boundary of Colorado. Dar-ling surveyed to a point west of the present location ofthe Four Corners monument by about 1 mile & 45chs.Darling didn’t do an exemplary job on his survey, but hissurvey was upheld in a Supreme Court decisionbetween the states of New Mexico and Colorado in1925 because it was the original survey.

In 1875 Chandler Robbins was contracted to surveythe west line of New Mexico. Interestingly, on

the title page of his notes, Robbinsdescribes himself as “US surveyor

and astronomer”. He was directedto set an initial monument at 32°

west longitude and “on theDarling line”. As you cansee, and as surveyors, weknow the differencebetween 37° north latitudeand “on the Darling line”.Darling’s survey was theoriginal survey of thesouth line of Colorado,after all, even though itwasn’t exactly on the 37°north latitude line.

The difference between109° west longitude and 32°

west longitude isn’t as imme-diately apparent other than the

numbers varying considerably.The Greenwich Meridian, from

which 109° is measured, was not

Four CornersA Brief History

By Earl F. Henderson, PLS

SIDE SHOTS • 8

accepted as the Prime Meridian by the United Statesuntil 1912 after the International Meridian Conferenceheld in Washington, DC in 1884. Until that time eachcountry established their own “prime meridian” fromwhich measurements were made within their borders.Anyone who is a fan of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Codelike I am remembers Robert Langdon following “TheRose Line” monumented through the center of Paris atthe end of the story. These monuments mark France’sprime meridian. The Greenwich meridian was chosenas the Prime Meridian at the conference thoughbecause of the superiority of the British shipping andnavigational charts which most countries had beenusing for decades, and which were all based on thatmeridian. So Chandler’s monument predated the use ofthe Greenwich meridian as the Prime Meridian. It wasin fact based on the Washington, DC prime meridian.However, there have in fact been four prime meridiansin DC.

The first prime meridian of the USA was proposed byCharles Pierre L’Enfant, the designer of DC, to gothrough “Congress’ House”. This meridian was neverimplemented. The second prime meridian of the USAand the first to actually be put to use was defined byThomas Jefferson and established at the right anglepoint of the triangle with hypotenuse drawn between theWhite House and the Capitol Building. This point is cur-rently marked by the “Jefferson Stone” just NW from theWashington monument. The Jefferson Stone has aunique and interesting history that was fully describedby Silvio Bedini in his wonderful book The JeffersonStone. This USA prime meridian was used until 1850.At that time the US Naval Observatory (now called theOld US Naval Observatory and located near the westend of the mall in DC) was being used for making longi-tudinal measurements and apparently it was decided tomove the USA prime meridian to the dome of the OldUS Naval Observatory building for simplicity in reducingmeasurements. That USA prime meridian was useduntil the Greenwich meridian was adopted by the USAin 1912. Sometime later the current US Naval Observa-tory was built and the USA Prime Meridian was movedto there for measurement purposes even though allmeasurements were converted to Greenwich.

So, the upshot is that Chandler’s monument was setbased on the USA Prime Meridian (at the Old NavalObservatory) at 32° west longitude and that does NOTcorrespond to 109° West from Greenwich as Lynn Araveseems to think. Of course this is not the first time thatsomeone has looked at a map and made that assump-tion. In fact, in an attempt to thwart just such a misun-derstanding, Chandler Robbins himself published anarticle in the Santa Fe Daily New Mexican on November1, 1875, just a few months after he set the monument,saying this: “It seems to have been the general impres-sion that the line was the 109° of longitude west fromGreenwich. Such is not the case, as the law makes itthe 32° of longitude west from Washington, which corre-sponds to 109°2’59.25” west from Greenwich, andwhich places the line as a small fraction less than threemiles farther west than would have been the case if ithad been run as the 109° of longitude west from Green-wich.” Oddly enough, the very same newspaper, now

Image from the Utah Historical Quarterly

The Jefferson Stone, Washington, DC

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called The Santa Fe New Mexican,published an article on February 26,2010, fueling the flames of the con-troversy which in reality doesn’teven exist. They indicate in thatarticle that some New Mexico legis-lators may even be consideringclaiming additional territory fromArizona based on the false informa-tion spread about the location of theFour Corners monument.

Measuring longitude in 1875 wasoften based on a time measure-ment using the telegraphic services.But out in the wilds of the westthere were no telegraph lines.Chandler’s notes say: “In theabsence of available telegraphicfacilities for the determination of thelongitude I was directed by the Hon.Commissioner of the General LandOffice to adopt the Southwesternneedle point or crestone, otherwisenamed Wilson’s Peak, situated inTownship 11 North, Range 3 Westof the Navajo Special Meridian.”The location of Wilson’s Peak hadbeen established under the U. S.Geographical Surveys West of the100th Meridian, led by First Lieu-tenant George Wheeler (one of theGreat Surveys of the AmericanWest which also includes King’ssurvey of the 40th Parallel, Powell’ssurvey of the Grand Canyon Regionand Hayden’s Geological and Geo-graphical Survey of Colorado and

Adjacent Territories). Wilson’s Peakhas since been renamed ShipRock. Robbins then describes thegeographical position he was givenfor this point and how he ran a linedue west after triangulating on thatpoint to establish 32°W. Then heran due north and intersected “Dar-ling’s Line” and established his ini-tial point. He monumented his ini-tial point with “a shaft of hard sandstone 7 feet long 12 inches wideand 6 inches thick; set 3 feet in theground and marked on the N.E“Col, 37° N.L”, on the S.E “N. Mex32° W.L”; on the SW “Arizona”; onthe N.W “Utah 1875”. This is themonument that would eventuallybecome the Four Corners monu-ment.

Now as surveyors we know thatthe Four Corners monument isn’texactly where it was intended to be.No one can measure exactly, noteven now, not even me. But giventhe instrumentation available at thetime, the terrain, and the manyother challenges to survey well inthat area and era, the level of bothprecision and accuracy they wereable to achieve is remarkable. Butjust as importantly we as surveyorsunderstand the concept of originalmonumentation better than theaverage reporter. Monumentationof land is so important that lawsagainst moving or removing monu-

mentation have been institutedsince prior to the writing of TheBible and are included in The Bible.The removal of survey monumenta-tion continues to be a criminaloffense today. Retracement survey-ing, in which most of us participate,is by definition the re-establishmentof monumentation in its originallocation, not where it was intendedto be. Chief Justice Cooley wrote,“We all know that when purchasers(in this case States) take lands fromthe general government, they ascer-tain the boundaries by going uponthe land and tracing out the linesand stakes. No one supposes thatif an error shall chance to haveoccurred in the survey, he is liableto have the corner post removed,and perhaps the portion of his pur-chase, which he regarded as mostvaluable, taken from him by a resur-vey.” (Thanks to Jeff Lucas for pro-viding this quote.)

Since the Four Corners monu-ment was set it has gone throughseveral upgrades described in a cir-cular titled Field Notes of theRemonumentation of the CornerCommon to the States of Colorado,New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, ofthe New Mexico Principal Meridian,Gila and Salt River Meridian, andSalt Lake Meridian” executed byDarryl A. Wilson, SupervisoryCadastral Surveyor for the BLM anddated October 17, 1992 (R-573). Atthe time of this writing it is goingthrough yet another rendition transi-tion and has been closed since lateFebruary 2010, with the hope that itwill re-open again in the late springor early summer of 2010. This re-construction is being monitored byboth the NSPS and BLM to be cer-tain that it remains in its originallocation, as it should be, once theconstruction is completed. Addition-al information about the history ofthis monument and its location canbe found at www.ngs.noaa.gov/INFO/fourcorners.shtml

Just as the circular states, themonument marks the corner com-mon to the four states. It has beenthere since they became states andI expect and hope that it always will.

SIDE SHOTS • 10

Four Corners Monument before renovation (Photo: Staplegunther at en.wikipedia

SIDE SHOTS • 11

As some of you know and as Ihave mentioned in previous ControlPoints, I’m a little nuts on thespelling of the present international-ly accepted unit of length, themetre. The reason is to keep awayfrom the confusion factor. In Eng-lish a gadget for measuring water isa water meter, for measuring elec-tricity is an electric meter, and formeasuring gas is a gas meter. Ifyou spell metre “meter,” then whatare you talking about? If you spellthe unit of length “metre” then it isunique and specific. If you don’t likeFrench you’re in trouble anyway.

How was the length of themetre determined? A few mayknow the answer to that. Becausethe standards of weights and meas-ures had deteriorated so badly inEurope by the time of the FrenchRevolution that each town had itsown system in many areas, it was amess that badly needed fixing. Itwas estimated that in pre-Revolu-tionary France there were over250,000 different units of weightsand measures.

The French Academie hadlooked at the problem in great detailfor years. In fact, the 1792 meas-urement of the earth’s meridiannorth from Paris to Dunkirque was aredo of the 1740 measurement byCassini III. The measurement southfrom Paris to Barcelona in Spainhad not been done before. Theolder measurements were only to15 seconds of arc while the newermeasurements would be to onesecond of arc by means of thenewly invented Borda repeating cir-cle theodolite, usable both in a hori-zontal and vertical position. Thepicture shows it for measuring hori-zontal angles.

In 1792 the Frenchastronomers, Delambre andMechain started out to triangulatethe Paris Meridian north and southrespectively. Unfortunately, theywere right in the middle of theFrench Revolution and they weredetained and their equipment taken,

which immensely complicated theirjob. It was not finished until afterNapoleon took over. The final trian-gulation is shown in the figure. Theintent of extrapolating their resultingdistance on the surface of the earthto the distance from the Equator tothe North Pole along the ParisMeridian and then taking on ten-mil-lionth of that distance for the lengthof the metre turned out to be unat-tainable. The hidden error that stillexists in the length of the metre is ashortage of about 0.2 of a millime-ter. Mechain did his best to find thathidden error and almost committedsuicide over it when he couldn’t findit. The real problem was that theshape of the earth is irregular andnot a curve of revolution. (Delambreand Mechain knew that the earthwas not a sphere and was flattenedat the poles but didn’t know the cur-vature varied in an irregular wayand didn’t fit their mathematics!)

Delambre covered up the errorwhen he published the results and itexists to this day. Because eachsegment of the Paris Meridian hada changing curve, it was not possi-ble to make an accurate extrapola-tion. Finally, Cassini’s 50-year-olddata had to be used to get anapproximation of the earth’s sizeeven though Delambre knew it to beinaccurate.

But one good thing came out ofit. Their colleague, the Frenchmathematician Legendre, laterusing Delambre’s published data,came up with a way to best fit acure to the data which is the leastsquares adjustment, the origin ofthe statistical method used today.

If the reader wishes to readmore of the fascinating story aboutMechain and Delambre and their tri-als and tribulations, I recommendKen Alder’s book, The Measure ofAll Things.

Top: The Borda Repeating Circle Theodolite.At right: The Paris Meridian.From The Measure of All Things:The Seven-Year Oddyssey and Hidden Error,by Ken Alder, Simon & Schuster, 2002.

Control Points – Number 9By Warren Andrews, PLS

The Metre

State Board Update

By Angie Kinnaird Linn, Program DirectorState Board of Licensure for Architects,

Professional Engineers, and Professional Land Surveyors

PASSAGE OF HOUSE BILL10- 1085 LEADS TOSEVERAL CHANGES

HB10-1085 puts in place a num-ber of changes that may affect youor your employees…

1. It requires the Board specifyappropriate surveying coursework through the rulemakingprocess that would meet thestatutory requirements for a2-year surveying curriculum,a 4-year engineering curricu-lum, or a 4-year non-survey-ing curriculum in order toqualify to take the Principlesand Practice of Surveyinglicensing examination. Thismust be done and in effectby January 1, 2011.

2. The bill eliminates the abilityto become licensed as aProfessional Land Surveyorwithout education beyondgraduation from high schoolon July 1, 2020.

3. The bill also specifies proce-dures for issuance of a sur-veyor’s affidavit of correction.

Rulemaking

Regarding the rulemakingprocess to determine the appropriatecoursework to qualify to take thelicensing examination to become aProfessional Land Surveyor, a sub-committee has been meeting sinceearly June and is presenting its rec-ommendations for the Board’s con-sideration at the August 13, 2010meeting. This group is made up ofSurveyor Board members, PLSCrepresentatives, and other interestedLand Surveyors. They are writingthese rules as well as reviewingother existing rules that need clarifi-cation. In addition, policies that con-cern the practice of land surveyingmay be adopted as rules.

Once the Board reviews the pro-posed rules, which will also includethe revision of some rules regardingthe practice of architecture and engi-neering, and application andenforcement processes, they willpublish them in order to hold a publichearing. The anticipated hearingdate is October 8, 2010. If youwould like updates on the rulemakingprocess, to review the proposedrules when they are published,attend the hearing, or provide writtentestimony, please check out the infor-mation athttp://www.dora.state.co.us/aes/rule-making.htm

Elimination ofApprenticeship Path toLicensure

The option for anyone to becomelicensed based on experience onlywill end on July 1, 2020. Pleasespread that information far and wideto all of your colleagues and employ-ees to ensure they understand if theydo not have surveying education,they now have only 10 years tobecome licensed.

Surveyor’s Affidavit ofCorrection

This portion of the bill doesn’trequire any action by the Board atthis time.

HAVE YOU CHANGED YOURMAILING OR EMAILADDRESS LATELY?

It is imperative you keep yourcontact information updated with theDivision of Registrations. The Divi-sion mails renewal notices and otherinformation to you at the last addressfurnished to us. Failure to receive a

renewal notice does not relieve youof your obligation to timely renewyour license.

Once you have logged into Reg-istrations Online Services, checkyour mailing address and update it, ifit is not correct. If you received yourrenewal notice due to a forwardingorder it is important you change youraddress on file with us since we can-not change the information based onthe forwarding order.

You should also add or updateyour email address. The Divisionwants to keep you abreast of legisla-tion, events, and other informationthat impact your profession. Wehave recently implemented “eUp-dates” and look forward to providingmore of these in the future.

REGISTRATIONS ONLINESERVICES

Registrations Online Servicesmakes it easier for all licensed Pro-fessional Land Surveyors to renewand update their contact informationafter a simple registration process.Check it out atwww.dora.state.co.us/registrationsand then click on Online Registra-tions Services. For detailed instruc-tions on how to use the online sys-tem go to www.dora.state.co.us/reg-istrations/FAQs.htm.

SIDE SHOTS • 12

SIDE SHOTS • 13

The Surveying program at Met-ropolitan State College of Denverhas moved to its new home underthe Earth and Atmospheric Sci-ences Department in the School ofLetters, Arts, and Sciences! Sur-veying will become an Area of Inter-est under the Geographic Informa-tion Systems (GIS) Concentration inthe Land Use Major. This connec-tion with GIS will give Surveyingstudents broader academic prepa-ration and open additional careeropportunities. Likewise, the Survey-ing Area of Interest will enrich theGIS Concentration and provideanother career direction for LandUse Majors. Additionally, thesecourses will help students qualify forthe Colorado Fundamentals of LandSurveying Exam. The courses willalso be open to students all overthe nation who seek professionaldevelopment or fulfillment of theirstate’s requirements for educationof professional surveyors. Studentsmay choose from the followingcourses to complete the 19-credit-hour minimum required for the Sur-veying Area of Interest:

SUR1510 Surveying ISUR2520 Surveying IISUR2530 Route SurveyingSUR2550 Surveying ComputationsSUR3100 Survey Data Adjustment

and Analysis ISUR3150 Astronomy for SurveyorsSUR3220 Real Property

DescriptionsSUR3300 PhotogrammetrySUR3540 Boundary Law ISUR3700 Geodesy ISUR3800 Public Lands Survey

SystemSUR4510 Map Projections and

Coordinate SystemsSUR4540 Boundary Law II

The Earth and AtmosphericSciences Department is in theprocess of requesting formalapproval of these changes.

Metro State’s Extended Cam-pus is hiring expert faculty to rede-

velop and teach these selected dis-tance courses, improving theirteaching quality and currency. I ampleased to report that the first classwill be developed by DennisMouland, the BLM Cadastral Train-ing Coordinator at the NationalTraining Center in Phoenix. Mr.Mouland will develop SUR 3800Public Lands Survey System, anarea in which Mr. Mouland has spe-cial expertise and in which hebelieves there is strong interestaround the nation. The text for thecourse will be the 2009 edition ofThe Manual of Surveying Instruc-tions published by the Bureau ofLand Management.

For those of you who may benew to the state, a little history --Metro State’s Surveying and Map-ping Program was founded in theearly 1980s. Over the years,because of low on-campus enroll-ment, the program gradually shiftedfrom on-campus instruction ofdegree-seeking students to “dis-tance” education of students in Col-orado and the nation. More than

half of the current distance studentsreside outside the state of Col-orado, and many of the Coloradoresidents do not live in the Denvermetropolitan area.

Unfortunately, a gloomy budgetpicture for Colorado higher educa-tion prevents us from hiring a full-time professor to lead the program.However, we have several excellentpart-time faculty who teach a num-ber of our Surveying courses. Forthe most part, these faculty comefrom the professional surveyingcommunity, which gives them realworld experience in addition to theiracademic credentials.

We continue to appreciate thestrong support for Metro State’sSurveying program that we havereceived from the Professional LandSurveyors of Colorado. We look for-ward to reporting on our ongoingprogress, and welcome any ques-tions or comments you have.

Carol Svendsen can bereached at [email protected]

Update from Metropolitan State College of Denver’s Surveying Program

By Carol Svendsen, Assistant Vice President, Extended Campus

GLO/BLM Plats Online!Coming To A Computer Near You

www.glorecords.blm.gov

The Bureau of Land Management has been scanning the oldGeneral Land Office plats and notes for over a year. Therectangular plats are now on line and in color. The Bureau scannedthe original plats from the National Archives through a contractwith Premier Data Services in Arvada. The images are high qualityTIF and SID file formats. The detail is sharp and the colors bringcharacter to the plats. Over the next few months you will see themineral surveys come on line too. We are still scanning the originalfield note volumes and will serve the field notes on line over thenext couple of years. So check us out and if you have anyquestions please call, Paul Lukacovic (303) 239-3818.

SIDE SHOTS • 14

1 – President, for a 2-year term (2011-2012)1 – Vice President, for a 2-year term (2011-2012)1 – Secretary-Treasurer, for a 2-year term (2011-

2012)4 – Directors, for a 4-year term (2011-2014)

The terms for the following individuals will concludeafter the election in February/March of 2011:

Tom Adams, President (2009-2010)Mike Greer, Vice President (2009-2010)Diana Askew, Secretary-Treasurer (2009-2010)Douglas Berling, Director (2007-2010)Michael Bouchard, Director (2007-2010)Russ Clark, Director (2007-2010)Roger Nelson, Director (2007-2010)

Directors Gary Gable, Peter Kent, Patrick Greenand Stan Vermilyea will continue until 2012.

Your nominations can be sent either by mail or email:

Douglas Berling11536 Community Center Drive, #87Northglenn, CO [email protected]

Deadline for nominations: December 15, 2010

Please include name of nominee, position nominatedfor, and their contact information.

Ballots will be sent to the membership 36 days priorto the annual meeting, to be held in February, 2011.

Complete Photogrammetric Services

MAP MAP WWORKSORKSContact: Ralph Vomaske, Certified Photogrammetist, ASPRS

7625 W. 5th Ave. #203E • Lakewood, CO 80226

Phone: 303-445-1856

E-mail: [email protected]

Call for NominationsThe Nominations and Elections Committee of the PLSC

is now accepting nominations for the following positions:

SIDE SHOTS • 15

Western Federation of Professional SurveyorsBoard of Directors Meeting Report

June 12, 2009 in Portland, Oregon

by: David C. DiFulvio, PLS, Colorado Delegate

PLSC Delegates Dave DiFulvio and J.B. Guytonattended this Board meeting held in Portland Oregon.The meeting was attended by delegates from 12 of the13 WFPS states, with only Hawaii absent. Guests inattendance included Curt Sumner, representing ACSMand NSPS; Roger Galles & Brian Pottwood, ProfessionalLand Surveyors of Oregon (PLSO); Denny DeMeyer,North American Land Surveyors & Team Canoe Cap-tain; and Tim Kent, NSPS.

There have been several new delegates this year.Please refer to the WFPS web site, www.wfps.org, for alisting of current officers and delegates.

In addition to State Reports, a large portion of themeeting was spent discussing the situation with NSPSand their vote to “initiate the process of separating fromACSM, while charging a committee to study and make areport, by Sept. 15, 2010, on the financial and member-ship impacts of this action if it were to go full term”.Some of the WFPS delegates were in attendance at theNSPS meeting in Phoenix, and Curt Sumner providedmuch background information which helped to under-stand a number of events that led up to the NSPS vote,as well as an expression of the need for input and feed-back on member state’s feelings on this important mat-ter. It was understood that this situation will greatly affectthe profession of land surveying in the United States forthe rest of our careers. A summary of the major ele-ments of the discussion, as well as the general feelingand consensus of delegates, as I understood it to be, isas follows:

The NSPS committee charged with studying theproposed withdraw is to report back to the NSPS Boardof Governors by September 15, 2010. The study is sup-posed to include:• Review of both positive and negative financial impacts

to NSPS• Review of both positive and negative membership

impacts to NSPS• Input from general membership through Area Directors

and State GovernorsCurt Sumner expressed a plea for input from the

membership regarding what they want from their nation-al society – either NSPS, ACSM, or both. The time iscritical as the two year notice is ticking down and any re-structuring takes time. There is a keen desire by bothNSPS and ACSM leadership to know what the member-ship wants from their national society.

During the discussions, it also became clear thatvery few people understand the operational functions ofNSPS and ACSM and that confusion and lack of under-standing is leading to misinformed assumptions andconclusions with respect what each organization isresponsible for. A (very) brief tidbit of history also was

provided by Curt to better understand the events thatled to where we are today.

History: In 2004 Each MO became independentlyincorporated entities• Each MO maintains their own finances• CSM serves as an implementation body – providing

governmental affairs, conferences, publications, andstaff

• Anything beyond programs implemented by ACSM(e.g., CST) ACSM is paid an hourly rate

• Each MOU contributes to ACSM financially based onmembership to run the activities Issues

The following Areas of Concern/Interest were identi-fied and discussed by the WFPS Board:• ABET Accreditation – maintain influence• ACSM/ALTA Standards• NCEES Representation• A more responsive national organization to action

items• Governmental affairs program• Influence nationally in the political arena• Representation in new organization (governance)• Membership retention• Develops a vision & action plan to address the ques-

tion, “Why Should I Join”• Impact on relationship with agencies (e.g., BLM, NGS,

USGS, FEMA, HUD, etc.) and Universities• Cost & structure of administration• Public Relations• Conference Identity & attendance• Delivery of Programs• Streamline the operational structure of NSPS

It was requested that each state society carefullydiscuss this situation and formulate an opinion on thesituation that can be brought forward and discussed atWFPS, as well as with NSPS leadership. After much dis-cussion, the WFPS Board decided to table the discus-sion until we hear back from our member state societiesand also have a chance to review the report from theNSPS Committee in September. In general, howeverthere was a tentative feeling among Delegates thatthere should be only one national society representingLand Surveyors, however a consensus as to whether ornot that one society should be NSPS or ACSM was notdetermined and will likely wait until our Septembermeeting, after we have had a chance to review theNSPS committee’s report. WFPS Chairman Ray Mathe(CA) will draft a letter to NSPS and ACSM stating thatwe will weigh in on the issue and the process, and alsorequest to participate with the subcommittee studyingthe proposed withdraw.

SIDE SHOTS • 16

It was clear that this issue andthe future existence of ACSM is themost important issue facing survey-ors today and should be carefullystudied and considered before for-mulating opinions either way. At aminimum, everyone should read thedocument “The Evolution of aNational Voice”, The Future of theNational Society of ProfessionalSurveyors, which has been widelydistributed and summarizes the sit-uation, and access additional infor-mation on the web sites for ACSMand NSPS.

ACSM Report: Curt Sumnerbriefed the WFPS Board on variousactivities of ACSM. Notable itemsinclude their 2011 joint Conferencewith ESRI User’s Group Conferencein San Diego. ACSM has been a co-sponsor of the ESRI Survey Summitin the past and this is the first timethe two major organizations willhost a major joint conferencetogether.

Selected highlights fromWFPS member states’reports:

Alaska: The ASPLS 201 Con-ference will again be in Feb. inAnchorage…. their 2013 Confer-ence will be a major event com-memorating the Alaska/CanadaBoundary, with a series of eventsthat will culminate with a CentennialCelebration of the setting of the lastInternational Boundary monumentof the United States…. They arestarting the process to review theStandards of Practice Manual,which has not gone through areview since 1993…. Their focus fortheir 2011-2012 legislative sessionwill be to pass a statute for protect-ing the signed and sealed docu-ments from being altered andcopied without authorization, and astatute change lifting the eight yearexperience and education limitrequired of an applicant for becom-ing licensed…. Their BRAELSboard is considering a new regula-tion to lower the required Continu-ing Education Units from 30 to 24,and they are also considering a reg-ulation to adopt the ASPLS Stan-dards of Practice Manual.

Arizona: The APLS joint con-ference with ACSM was a success

by all accounts except for financeslargely due to a significant drop inattendees attributed to the reces-sion. Their contribution to the FourCorners Monument Display wasnoted and appreciated.

California: The CLSA web site,www.californiasurveyors.org allowsmembers the opportunity to man-age their own Professional Develop-ment Hours…. CLSA has developedan effective tri-fold for their currentand potential membership outliningall the benefits of being a mem-ber…. CLSA was recently asked toparticipate in an Amicus Curae inthe appellate decision of a majorcase between UDC v. CH2M Hill inregards to indemnity, and a holdharmless clause in a contract. Thecase involved a decision for pay-ment of fees to defend and holdharmless even though there was nodetermination of negligence. TheCA Supreme Court has denied thepetition to hear the case and hasdenied the de-publishing of the rul-ing…. Their Trig Star programinvolved 42 different high schoolsreaching approx. 650 students whoparticipated in the exam.

Colorado: JB Guyton present-ed a report summarizing the activi-ties and matters of PLSC.

Hawaii: Their 2011 Conferenceis February 3 & 4 in Waikiki…. TheirTrig Star program involved 22schools. Their program was startedin 2008…. Our HA delegate KevinKea has started investigation anddiscussion to strengthen theirstatutes, specifically with regards tothe definition of a Land Surveyor,and is reviewing similar statutesfrom other WFPS states and inputfrom other delegates.

Idaho: No report at the meetingdue to a last minute family emer-gency. A report will be provided withthe minutes, which were not avail-able yet at the time of this report.

Montana: MARLS committed$10,200 for scholarship awards in2009, with an additional $5,500being distributed to high school stu-dents participating in the Trig Starprogram…. Their 2011 conferencewill be Feb. 24 – 26 in Billings….Their proposed by-laws change toinclude NSPS and WFPS delegatesas voting members was approvedby their membership…. It was notedthat their state worker’s comp.

underwriters moved Land Surveyorsinto the geophysical surveyinggroup and out of the architects &engineer’s group.

Nevada: Their membershiphas seen a decline of about 30%from last year…. Their 2010 Confer-ence was held with CLSA for thefirst time since 2005 and was agreat success…. Their 2011 Confer-ence will also be held with CLSA inMarch, in Las Vegas…. NALS issponsoring 4 hour seminars on the2009 Manual of Instructions inReno and Las Vegas…. 9 highschools participated in their TrigStar program this last year.

New Mexico: Their member-ship saw a 15% drop in 2010…. Intheir legislature this year, SB 41passed and was signed into law. Asstated in the first sentence of thebill, the “Act, Relating to LandGrants; requiring notice to theBoards of Trustees of certain com-munity land grants before conduct-ing boundary surveys of lands with-in or bordering the Land Grant;requiring the filing of proof ofnotice.” The bill requires a surveyorshall give proof of the noticerequired ……. by having the track-ing number of the certified mailingand the address of the land grantas recorded with the county clerkacknowledged and recorded on theboundary survey or plat.” This legis-lation was passed because LandGrant Board members claim (incor-rectly) that these surveys are beingused as an element of adverse pos-session and are being conductedwithout their knowledge or consent(although not necessary).

Oregon: PLSO’s 2011 AnnualConference will be January 19 – 21,again in Salem…. Their ever popu-lar TwiST program is cancelled thisyear due to only one personresponding…. Oregon is in theprocess of moving toward a low dis-tortion projection State Plane Coor-dinate System statewide, throughODOT and is looking forward toenabling legislation next year, calledthe OCRS – Oregon CoordinateReference System…. TheirOSBEELS is continuing their effortsto develop a Standards of Practicefor Land Surveying, establishingminimum levels of competency forLand Surveyors.

Utah: UCLS is currently work-

SIDE SHOTS • 17

ing with the Utah Assn. of CountySurveyors on making changes tothe Right of Entry statutes that wereadopted in 2008 to improve accessrights for surveyors on private prop-erty…. The Board of Directors votedto support the requirement of a fouryear degree for licensure as a Sur-veyor in Utah and to start to moveon getting the requirement put intotheir statutes…. The update to theUCLS Model Standards of Practicefor Boundary Surveys has beencompleted, for the first time in 10years.

Washington: The WashingtonCouncil of County Surveyors(WCCS) is supportive and has rec-ommended that APWA developstandard specifications for all PublicWorks projects that require all con-struction surveying to be done by orunder the direct supervision of aprofessional land surveyor. Includedin this recommendation is therequest that GPS machine controlnetworks be established and main-tained during the project by orunder the direct supervision of aprofessional land surveyor regis-

tered in the State…. LSAW Chap-ters have provided funds sufficientto support 12 teachers in theirTwiST program.

Wyoming: The next PLSWannual meeting will be February 2in Cheyenne…. PLSW PresidentMark Rehwaldt, PE/LS has taken aposition with the University ofWyoming in the Dept. of Civil andArchitectural Engineering as theDirector of the Land Surveying Pro-gram. Its Certificate of Land Survey-ing program (all on line) is growingand the proposed future curriculumincludes course work that isrequired by varying state boardsacross the United States andrequested by students. They planon becoming self sufficient in threeyears.

Other items of interest:• The 2011 WFPS Conference willbe held in association with theWashington and Idaho societies inSpokane, Washington on March 2 -5, 2011.• A report was provided on the sta-

tus of the CFedS program from

the CFedS Panel meeting at theACSM Conference in Phoenix. Asof April of this year, there are atotal of 342 certified CFedS,including 50 in Colorado, and 486Trainees

• The WFPS Board approved theaward of two scholarships for the2010 – 2011 academic year in theamount of $2,000 each to stu-dents at OIT Klamath Falls andCSU Fresno. It was also notedthat since WFPS began awardingscholarships for the 2002 – 2003academic year, a total of $56,800in scholarships have been award-ed.

• The WFPS Board voted to donate$2,500 to the Four Corners Mark-er project being championed byWarren Ward of Colorado.

• A report on NCEES was provided,stating that license examinationsare down approx. 25% and thatNCEES is moving to computerbased national testing

Our next meeting will be held inReno, Nevada on September 25th,2010.

SIDE SHOTS • 18

May 7, 2010 – in conjunction with the WCLS Spring Session

Grand Vista Hotel, 2790Crossroads Blvd.,

Grand Junction, CO

Call to Order: 7:15 PM

Recognition of PLSC BoardMembers and Officers Present:

Present: Tom Adams, MichaelGreer, Diana Askew, MichealBouchard, Doug Berling, PatrickGreen, Stan Vermilyea, Peter Kent,Gary Gable, Warren Ward

Absent:Russ Clark, Roger Nelson

Welcome of Guests:Pam Fromhertz, Tom and

Sheila Sylvester, Michael Murdock,Rick Mason, Brian Bowker, MarkYoung, James Sommerville, LouisBuettner

Approval of Minutes fromPrevious meeting:

Motion: Patrick Green moves toapprove the minutes from 3-31-2010. Gary Gable seconds.

Discussion: Ex-officio directorshave been invited to join the Boardof Directors. Parker Newby will rep-resent the Southwest chapter andRon Perkins will represent theNorthern chapter. Vote: Unanimousapproval.

Reports (full version of theminutes with all attachments andreports are available online atwww.plsc.net)

Secretary-Treasurer, Diana AskewDiana provided a copy of the

2010 budget to the Board for con-sideration. The membership is downsubstantially in relation to this timelast year. Because we are movingthe annual conference to 2011 wewill not have conference income for2010, however, we will have upfront expenses for the venue in2010. Diana suggests holding off onany unnecessary expenses for theremainder of 2010 and to keepcosts to a minimum (travel, sup-

plies, other). We may need to useall of our savings to cover the 2010mandatory expenses.

NSPS Governor – Warren WardFour Corners monument dis-

cussion: NSPS is going to put a dis-play with an explanation of how themonument was set so the public willbe able to read the story of the sur-vey. Warren has gotten permissionfor the Navaho Parks. The construc-tion has to be completed by July 1.He has raised about $30,000 indonations, including $5000 fromUtah. The initial design concept is 43x3 plaques, one in each state,carved with a story about the sur-vey.

Motion: Mike Greer moves toauthorize Warren to proceed withthe Four Corners history display forservice in kind up to $5000. Weauthorize up to $500 in travel andlodging expenses at this time. StanVermilyea seconds. Vote: Unani-mous approval

The Final Point for Chic Chich-ester to be coordinated by DanGriggs

Warren will get a Final Pointfor Bob Stollard as well.

Warren requests the PLSCBoard authorize funds to send himto Orlando, FL in the fall for theNSPS meeting.

Tom thanks Warren for the timehe has put in as the Colorado Gov-ernor for the NSPS.

Chapter ReportsWCLS - The session was good;

they felt the economy impactedattendance and thanked the PLSCBoard for coming over.

SCPLS – The Annual Golf Tour-nament is on August 7.

Legislative Committee, RogerNelson, Chair

The Monument Record timeincrease was not accepted by thelegislative committee. Suggestadding lat and long, adding photos,increase the number of ties. Refer-ences need to be set at an appro-priate distance.

Machine control: Roger was incontact with the AES Board to see

what has been passed by otherstates.

Awards committee, StanVermilyea, Chair

Stan Vermilyea is looking forsome volunteers to help him rewritethe requirements so they are morecurrent. Chapter level awards couldbe nominated at the state awardlevel. WCLS is considering a month-ly award. Tom Sylvester andMicheal Bouchard are going to helpStan.

Stan has the list of awards.Action items: Di will find the

list of recipients and start a binderto keep the list of awards in.

Nominations and ElectionsCommittee, Doug Berling, Chair

Doug Berling has an article inthe Side Shots and hopes to get afew people to run. Mike Greerannounced that he is not runningfor VP again

Ethics and Fair Practices, PatrickGreen, Chair

Discussion: most of thechanges to the PLSC Code ofEthics were to change the male ref-erences to his/her and then theybeefed up some of it. They are ask-ing for comments and questions. Isthis too high of a standard for us?Rick Mason suggested that it maybe a good idea to have an attorneylook at it. Also, there was a discus-sion regarding the references toland surveyor or surveyor or profes-sional land surveyor.

Action items: Patrick will checkwith Ed Bristow and ask him to lookfor items that may cause problemsand will tweak the language accord-ingly.

Education Committee, Peter Kent,Chair

Peter Kent: We have beendoing the phone conferences. Mikehas the facility reserved, the ArvadaCenter. The rooms are nice andthere is plenty of free parking. ThePLSC is merging with CCPS andthe SCPLS to combine efforts andsave costs. We will hold our annualmeeting.

PLSC Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

SIDE SHOTS • 19

Tom Adams: The Southern andNorthern chapters were contactedand they agreed immediately to joinor merge with us. Pam and theNOAA/NGS speakers are invited tospeak. Possible topics are DaveDoyle and Pam presenting the NGS10 year plan. Pam can do a dog andpony show regarding tools availablethat some folks may not know about.There are new developments com-ing down the pike with OPUS andCORRS. Bill Henning can talk aboutthe GPS derived heights. Other pos-sible topics include training for air-port surveys with the FAA as a twoday workshop which conjunctionwith the conference. Airport surveysare complicated. Positive train con-trol in Pueblo may be able to comeand talk.

Special CommitteesQBS Colorado representative

discussion: Dave DiFulvio, RussClark, and Gary Gable have volun-teered to represent the PLSC onthe QBS Colorado Board of Direc-tors.

Next Meeting Date and Location:4:30 PM, Wednesday, June 9,

2010 via conference call. Tom or Diwill send a notice to the president ofeach chapter.

Adjourn: 10:00 PM

Respectfully submitted:Diana E Askew, PLSPLSC Secretary-Treasurer

June 9, 2010 Through June 24, 2010 viaConference Call

Call to Order:4:30 PM

Recognition of PLSC BoardMembers and Officers Present:

Present: Tom Adams, MichaelGreer, Diana Askew, MichealBouchard, Doug Berling, Roger Nel-son, Patrick Green, Stan Vermilyea,Peter Kent, Gary Gable, WarrenWard, JB Guyton

Absent: Russell Clark

Secretary-Treasurer, Diana AskewSee Treasurer’s Report below

(updated)

NSPS Governor – Warren WardDo we approve of the NSPS

decision to separate from theACSM? Warren indicates that if wedo nothing and nobody does orsays anything and the NSPS with-draws for the ACSM in two years –if someone was to go to the meet-ing in two years and ask that theprocess stop, it may not stop,maybe by the board of directors?We need a report to get more infor-mation to give us better reasons tomake the decisions. Warren wouldlike opinions or otherwise Warrenwill make a motion in November toreverse the decision. Warren says inhis opinion and every surveyor inAmerica benefits NSPS and ACSM

whether they are members or not orwhether they are licensed or not.Peter – what does it cost the PLSCto be members of the NSPS? Noth-ing, we are affiliates. Warren says itcosts $2,500 per year to travel tothe meetings. There are an over-whelming number of surveyors andthere are not enough geodesistsand mappers. There are 3000 sur-veying members and the othershave 500 members together, sothey are getting more funding fromthe NSPS for the ACSM. Warrensuggests a straw poll because timeis not an issue at this point.

Following a discussion themembers of the Board feel there isnot enough information to make adecision at this time. Conclusions:Warren will not say anything andnot make a motion to reverse thedecision.

Warren requests $1300 to go toOrlando in November for the NSPSmeeting. Discussion tabled.


Tom asks if we want to renewthe contract with Peg. Roger feelsthat if we don’t have a contract witha lobbyist there is no point to con-tinue with legislative committeemeetings. Lobbying is a processthat takes time. They need to watchothers out there as well. Tom asks ifthe lobbyist can be hired if we havesomething to take through the legis-lature. Roger needs to know if Pegwould be willing to offer different

SIDE SHOTS • 20

levels of service at a different feeschedule. Stop start may not besuch a good deal and he has someexperience with what happened lastyear.

Conclusions: Roger will get afee schedule and get it back to theboard for discussion later. A lobbyistis necessary in order for the PLSCto approve the legislative committeeto proceed with possible legislation.If not we could possibly ask Peg towatch out for our interest at a differ-ent fee.

Ethics and Fair Practices, PatrickGreen, Chair

Discussion: Tom asks if thereare any comments on Ed’s com-ments on the code of ethics. Patricksuggests that we table this to thenext meeting – we don’t haveenough time to go through the listline by line and it will take morethan 15 minutes.

Conclusions: Tom asks every-one to read the comments made byEd and discuss the document at thenext meeting.

Unfinished and New Business

Case Law Book, Ed Bristow, PLS,ESQ

Discussion of three optionsoffered by Ed for a Case Law Book– Tom offered an overview of theoptions and the CEU’s for other dis-ciplines together with the book. JB –big pool of attorneys, agency of theSupreme Court in the state of Col-orado, at least one attorney has tobe in the audience, need 6 monthsto get approved. Need approval ofthe subject material. We may be toolate if we want to attract attorneys.Possible option is to have a seminarin a hotel venue or similar after theconference. Once we make a deci-sion from the three options wewould like to pursue, Tom and Diwould approach Ed for the details.

Motion: Gary moves that theboard authorizes Tom and Diana tofurther investigate item 2 and reportback to the board for furtherapproval. Patrick Green seconds.Discussion: Stan asks how it fitsinto our budget. We will not makean inquiry to clear up the detailsand not obligate ourselves to pur-chase any of the options. How

many copies would Ed include inthe price or is that just the cost ofthe research? Vote: Unanimousapproval

Conclusions: Di and Tom willinvestigate option with Ed and getanswers to the questions – if thereare more please send them to Diand she will add them to the list

Next Meeting:4:30 PM, Thursday, June 17,

2010 via conference Call

Adjourn:5:55 PM

June 17, 2010 - Conference Call


Recognition of PLSC BoardMembers and Officers:

Present: Tom Adams, MichaelGreer, Diana Askew, MichealBouchard, Roger Nelson, PatrickGreen, Stan Vermilyea, Peter Kent,Gary Gable, Parker Newby, RonPerkins, JB Guyton

SIDE SHOTS • 21

Absent:Russ Clark, Doug Berling

Approval of Minutes fromPrevious meeting(s):

Motion: Roger Nelson movesto approve the June 9 (change dateof the next meeting from Novemberto June) Stan seconds. Discussion:none Vote: Unanimous approval

Motion: Roger Nelson movesto approve the May 7 minutes. Peteseconds. Discussion: remove theextra W in Warren Legislative com-mittee discussion. Vote: Unanimousapproval


Discussion regarding the Basisof Bearing statement revisions sug-gested in the rulemaking process:

Motion: Patrick Green movesto direct the legislative committeeto look into the BOB statement tosee if it should be added to othertypes of surveying documents.Roger Nelson seconds. Discussion:Mike B asks if the statute needs tobe changed or if it just needs to belooked at. BOB purpose is to helpother surveyors follow in the foot-steps of another surveyor. Thestatute only addresses adding abasis of bearing to be added toLSP’s. The Statute is obsolete. Sun-set will begin next year and needsto be done by 2013. Do we want towait two years or address it now?Roger – you want us to do researchand report back to the board for fur-ther direction. Roger said it may betoo late to craft language and haveit ready for the upcoming legislativesession. The rules committee canhammer it out and see what can beaddressed in the rules before westart thinking about changing thestatute. Vote: yes MB, no MG, yesGable, yes Patrick, yes Peter, yesParker, yes Ron Perkins, yesRoger, Stan yes; approved

Discussion regarding MachineGrading: We were directed to doresearch and find information fromother states, and the board wouldread it and see if the legislativecommittee would attempt to findways to legislate that or if weshould stand down.

Motion: Roger moves to advisethe legislative committee not todevelop statutes to regulate

SIDE SHOTS • 22

machine control grading and to askthe legislative committee to standdown on this issue: MichaelBouchard seconds. Discussion:Gary said it was discussed at theQBS and it is a problem for theengineering discipline as well. Theissue is big and needs to be coordi-nated with multiple disciplines.Patrick found the report to be com-prehensive but the subject is still inits infancy. Gable suggested an adhoc committee to work with ACECand other groups. Vote: Unanimousapproval (for the committee to standdown on the issue)

Discussion regarding lobbyist(continued from 6-9-2010): If we runhot and cold with the lobbyist werun the risk of the lobbyist not beingwilling to represent us or may fill her“dance card”. Diana shared thebudget considerations to take intoaccount. We are 120 or so mem-bers short from last year if you takeinto consideration the number offreebie members and the member-ship to date is down 60 members.Stan suggests that Roger checkwith Peg and see if we can get alower level of service and possiblyupgrade it if necessary during thelegislative session. Ron seconds:

Gary asks that Di reevaluatesthe budget with actual income andemails it out to everyone. Parkernoticed that in Peg’s estimate shesaid she would work with us. Vote:unanimous. Roger indicated thatsince we have moved our conference

to next year it makes sense that wewould be in a deficit this year.

Next Meeting Date and Location:4:30 PM, Thursday, June 24,

2010 via conference call.Adjourn:6:10 PM

June 24, 2010 – Conference Call


Recognition of PLSC BoardMembers and Officers:

Present: Tom Adams, MichaelGreer, Diana Askew, MichealBouchard, Patrick Green, Stan Ver-milyea, Gary Gable, JB Guyton

Absent:Russ Clark, Doug Berling,

Roger Nelson, Peter Kent, ParkerNewby, Ron Perkins


Comments on hiring Peg – wecan go a year without a new bill andask the legislative committee towatch the legislation. We will sendher a nice letter.

Motion: Patrick moves that wedo not hire a lobbyist this year andsend a nice letter to Peg and let herknow that if we are in better shapenext year we’ll be in touch. MikeBouchard seconds. Vote: Unani-mous approval

Secretary-Treasurer, Diana AskewDi sent an actual income budg-

et to the board following the meet-ing on June 17 for the board toreview and consider.

NSPS Governor – Warren WardTom indicated that Warren

asked for up to $1,200 for a trip toFlorida for his next and last meet-ing.

Motion: Diana Askew moves tooffer Warren $600 to cover hisexpenses to go to Florida. PatrickGreen seconds. Discussion: ThePLSC is in financial trouble – wehave sent Warren to one confer-ence per year for the past fewyears. Asking for funding for twoconference trips in one year consid-ering our financial situation puts usin a difficult situation. This will beWarren’s last conference as theColorado NSPS governor. We didsome online research during themeeting and found that $600 wouldbe more than adequate to cover hisexpenses. Vote: Askew, Greer,Bouchard and Green for – Vermi-lyea and Gable oppose; approved.

Next Meeting Date and Location:4:30 PM, Wednesday July 28,

2010 via conference call. Next phys-ical meeting: 6:00 PM dinner andmeeting, Saturday, August 6, 2010in conjunction with the SCPLS GolfTournament on August 7, 2010.

Adjourn:5:46 PM

Respectfully submitted:Diana E Askew, PLSPLSC Secretary-Treasurer

SIDE SHOTS • 23

House Bill HB10-1085

Governor Ritter signedHouse Bill HB10-1085 onApril 15, 2010, regardingland surveyor’s affidavits ofcorrection and educationrequirements for licensure.Standing, left to right:Senator Abel J. Tapia, RandyReeves (Pueblo CountySurveyor candidate), PuebloCounty Commissioner(District 1) Anthony Nuñez,PLSC Executive DirectorDiana Askew, SteveBalcerovich (StrategicPartner of AckermanInformation Corporation),and Colorado StateRepresentative Jim Kerr.Seated, Governor Bill Ritter.

Please join us September 14-17th inLoveland, CO for the 23rd annual GIS inthe Rockies Conference. The mainconference program will be September15-16th. We will have pre-conferenceworkshops on September 14th and post-conference company tours on September17th.

This year's conference focuses onexamining the growth opportunities for

geospatial technology in our information-dependant world. The geospatial industry hascome a long way in the first 10 years of the 21st Century. Our world has become moregeo-enabled than ever. As we close out one decade and start a new one, we want tocelebrate the accomplishments of our industry and look forward to new opportunities forgrowth in the technological boom that is upon us. Join us in learning, sharing, andnetworking with some of the industry's best and brightest individuals and cutting-edgecompanies, right here in our own backyard.

For the complete program, and registration information, visit: www.gisintherockies.org

SIDE SHOTS • 24

CC HH AA PP TT EE RR NN EE WW SS

CCPS The next CCPS general mem-

bership meeting is to be convenedat 7:00 PM on August 26th at theDoubletree Hotel at Iliff and I-225.The featured presentation will be onthe status of and developmentsconcerning the NGS Colorado StateGeodetic Advisor’s program in Col-orado. The presenter will be PamFromhertz, Colorado State GeodeticAdvisor from NGS. NGS is intro-ducing a new vertical datum and wewill learn how that will impact oursurveying choices. The featuredvendor will be Hixon Manufacturingand Supply. Dinner will be servedprior to the meeting at 6:30 withcash bar at 6:00. All CCPS mem-bers are cordially invited.

The CCPS scholarship commit-tee has received 4 applications forscholarships for the fall 2010semester. The committee is review-ing the applications and will decidethe recipients soon. Rob Snodgrasswill present the scholarships at theCCPS general membership meetingon August 26th. CCPS is partneringwith PLSC in financing the scholar-ships this year.

The CCPS communicationcommittee is working on a new lookand content for our web page.Presently there are overlaps in con-tent with the award winning“PLSC.net” page and we would liketo make it less repetitive and moreefficient in presenting information.CCPS also now has a Facebookpresence. Search for Central Col-orado Surveyors on Facebook andjoin us for meeting notifications andupdates. You can also [email protected] for moreinformation.

CCPS wishes to thank GabyNuenzert for his presentation onroads and bridges of Switzerland atthe last CCPS general meeting. Thepresentation was entertaining andinformative and Gaby’s efforts aregreatly appreciated.

CCPS is looking to fill 4 DirectorPositions, a Vice President, and aSecretary position for next year. Theoffices are filled by an election ofthe membership held in October.

We are looking for 12 volunteersthis year so elections are competi-tive. You do not have to be alicensed surveyor in Colorado tohold office, but you do need to be aCCPS member. If you are interestedin serving the central Colorado sur-veying community in any of thesevital capacities, email Earl Hender-son, [email protected]. The timecommitment is only 4-8 hours permonth and your services are need-ed. It is an honor to be elected.

The copies of the Hayden Atlason hand are running low. Orderyours before they are out of print.Email Joe Conway [email protected] to orderyours for $75 which includes ship-ping costs. You can purchase acopy of the Hayden Atlas at any ofour meetings in person for $70.

Michael Greer made a specialpresentation to the family of ChicChichester at our last general mem-bership meeting. Michael presentedthe family a very special “FinalPoint” survey monument from theProfessional Land Surveyors of Col-orado to express gratitude, appreci-ation and thanks for the contribu-tions Chic made to the PLSC.

Hope your summer is success-ful and enjoyable.

Joe ConwayCCPS President

CSRNThe Colorado Spatial Reference

Network will hold its first SummerBBQ / Potluck on July 31, 2010, atBayou Gulch Regional Park in Park-er, CO. We hope to make this anannual event. Photos of the eventwill be posted on the CSRN web-site.

The CSRN has partnered withthe PLSC to present two topics atGIS in the Rockies on September14 – 17, 2010. Bill Henning, RTNProgram Manager with NGS/NOAAwill present GNSS Real Time Net-works – The Next Generation Infra-structure for all Geospatial Data;and Daniel Akin, PE/PLS, will pres-ent Legal Descriptions – A Primerfor GIS Professionals and LandSurveyors. Information about these

and other topics may be found atwww.GISintheRockies.org.

The CSRN elections committeeis seeking input from individualsconsidering running for the positionof President; Vice President; Secre-tary; or Director for 2011. Electionsfor these positions will be held inthe fall of 2010. Minimum require-ments for each position may befound in the bylaws posted on theCSRN website.

In cooperation with the PLSCthe CSRN has begun collectingannual membership dues fromPLSC members effective January 1,2010. Dues for sustaining and non-PLSC members (i.e. geospatialindustries) will continue to bewaived for the year. Please considerbecoming a member of the CSRNin addition to your regular chapter.

If you are interested in learningmore about the CSRN please con-tact us through our website atwww.CSRN.us or you may contactme directly at 303-512-4401 [email protected].

Dan SmithPresident – CSRN

NC Because the Northern Chapter

is currently on summer break thereis little news to share that has notbeen mentioned in previous issues.The Chapter will resume meetingsin early September and we are con-sidering different days and times inorder to boost attendance. The Mid-Year Economic update hosted bythe Northern Colorado BusinessReport on July 14 that featuredthree keynote speakers from theregion affirmed what we alreadyknow: First, that the recession isover and second, that recovery willbe a slow and painful process. Wehave seen several companies closetheir satellite offices here in North-ern Colorado as well as a few oth-ers closing their Civil Engineering orSurveying Departments. With thatsaid I feel that the worst is behindus and have seen indicators thatpoint to a brighter future. Althoughnew housing got off to a slow start

SIDE SHOTS • 25


this spring we have seen severalbuilders begin construction on pre-sold homes. Windsor, Fort Collinsand Loveland have faired betterthan most municipalities and arestill spending money on capitalimprovement projects. CSU hasbegun the design process for sever-al large projects on their main cam-pus, which will breathe life into theconstruction sector. We are veryoptimistic about the future.

Larry Pepek, PLSNorthern Chapter

NW 1/4 The NW 1/4 met March 22 in

Craig, Colorado at the Holiday Inn.The meeting was called to order byJohn Noonan, V.P., attending wereTom Effinger, Walter Magill, Brian T.Kelly, Lloyd Powers, Jim Joy andDave Ginther. Treasurer’s reportrevealed we have $1,316.56 in ouraccount, and the report and min-utes were approved with minor revi-sions.

New business primarily con-cerned the database for the platdeposits in Routt County. Tom Effin-ger and John have been workinghard on this and there are over2500 records so far. The Countyhas tentatively agreed to keep thedatabase updated once it is com-plete at a point in time, but SkidgeMoon, County Surveyor, needs toconfirm.

Tom let the members know thatthe biggest disciplinary action bythe State Board concerns failure topay licensing fees, and essentiallypracticing without a valid license.

Dave Ginther, BLM surveyor forNW Colorado, Craig office, led theprogram for the evening. His pro-gram concluded an earlier presen-tation from December concerningthe confluence of three principalmeridians-the Ute, New Mexico and6th P.M. in Section 36, T15S, R98W,6th P.M. This area is now commonlyknown as the Dominguez-EscalanteNational Conservation Area whichis about 220,000 acres. There is pri-vate land in Section 36 and alsoalong the Gunnison River. The sur-

veys in the area started with an1883/1884 Third Correction LineSouth, followed by a survey byEdwin Kellogg in 1895. Treece andFuller also did surveys in the town-ship, and there was even a sus-pended survey - the governmentrefused to recognize the surveywork due to large errors. A subse-quent survey directed the surveyorsto remove all evidence of the sus-pended survey, such as removingthe stone corners, but apparentlythey missed at least one, becauseDave Ginther found it. The countryis extremely rugged and none of ushave ever done this, but the 1890’ssurveyor probably looked at theprobable corner location and said,“Oh, they wouldn’t set that.” But ofcourse they did, it was invalid, andGinther’s crew pulled the stone 110years later. The meeting concludedat nine o’clock.

Brian T. KellySec.-Treasurer, NW 1/4

SCPLSThe 22nd Annual Paul Grout

Memorial Golf Tournament & Picnicwill be held on Saturday, August 7at the Hollydot Golf Course in Col-orado City. It is an 18-hole, 4 per-son scramble tournament. It isalways a great time to get togetherwith other surveyors from aroundthe region to play golf and catch upwith each other at the picnic after-wards.

Look for information to appearin either your inbox or mailbox.

This year the Southern Chaptertook a look at the state of the econ-omy and decided to join forces withthe Central Chapter and with PLSCand have a combined workshop.We are hopeful that the economywill recover enough next year toallow us to have our regular FallWorkshop in 2011.

Thank you,Mark Johannes

President, SCPLS

SWC/PLSCThe SW Chapter had its regular

meeting on May 11th at Christina’sBar and Grill at the Best WesternMotel in Durango. Members inattendance were Rob Trudeaux,Richard Harrison, Dave Seiler andParker Newby.

The 2010 Seminar will not beheld. Discussion was held on howto organize the 2011 seminar. DaveS. will discuss the 2011 availabledates with FLC.

Dave Seiler reviewed theattached PLSC BOD’s report as of5/5/2010. This is the report thatwas presented at the WesternChapter’s seminar on 5-7-2010.Dave also reviewed the SW Chap-ter’s financial statement. ParkerNewby reported on House Bill (HB)1085 regarding surveyor’s licensureand affidavit of correction. Parkeralso reported on the recent BODmeeting in Grand Junction. Items ofnote included the proposed NSPSbreak away from the ACSM.

Old business included anacknowledgement of the continu-ance of Roberts Rules of Order forSW Chapter meeting procedures.The chapter will also strive for inclu-sion of all chapter members duringdiscussions of items requiring for-mal chapter decisions.

Suggestions for speakers andevents for chapter meetings in 2011are always welcome.

Chapter and member contactlist update – This is an ongoingproject. Please let us know if yourinformation changes.

The next SW Chapter meetingwill be Tuesday July 13th at 6:00.The location will be determined anda notice sent out.

Rob TrudeauxPresident, SWC

WCLSWestern Colorado Land Sur-

veyors had a very successful SpringSeminar on May 7, 2010 with GeoffAnderson discussing Quiet TitleActions in Colorado and BobGreen, Chuck Hutchins, and Matt

SIDE SHOTS • 26


Nawrocki presenting Thinking Out-side the Box. We want to thankeveryone that attended and hopethat you all benefited from theexcellent presentations. It was niceto see several of the PLSC Board ofDirectors in attendance.

We also hosted the PLSCBoard meeting in the evening afterthe seminar was over. I want tothank the Board for traveling so farfor their meeting. Those of us thatwere able to attend found the meet-ing very informative.

At the seminar, the WCLS in

conjunction with the PLSC present-ed a $1,000.00 scholarship to RyanReed who is enrolled in surveyingat Westwood College. He is a verydeserving recipient. It was nice tohave a good slate of very roundedand talented applicants from whichto choose.

Because of the close proximityof our regular May meeting to theseminar, we had a light turnout, butwe were all intrigued by PeterKrick’s presentation on surveying inFlorida. We also had an informaldiscussion of the new laws passed

by our State Legislature that affectour profession.

We are planning our SummerPicnic the evening of July 14, 2010at Canyon View Park. This providesus a nice mid-summer break fromour surveying activities with anagenda of visiting with good friends,eating heartily, and having a goodtime. Families are invited and every-one is encouraged to invite a friend.

Thomas W. Sylvester, P. E. & P. L. S.

President/WCLS

WCLS Surveyor Appreciation Award LetterTo Peter T. Krick, PLS

Dear Peter:

On behalf of the Western Colorado Land Surveyors, I want to award you our March 2010 Surveyor Appre-ciation Award.

Because of a potential conflict of interest, you have understandably elected not to be involved in key lead-ership roles within our chapter. However, you have gone out of your way to give back to our organization,profession, and community in many other ways.

You have made arrangements for our chapter to meet at the City Hall and provided us with the dinners atour chapter meetings for several years and have been an active participant in our meetings. You continuallyand diplomatically work with our local surveyors in assisting them to meet City standards on their surveyingsubmittals. As such, I believe the caliber of final surveys in the Grand Valley is of the highest order in thestate. You work with the City planning staff and City attorneys to ensure they understand the various nuancesof boundary law which in turn helps the surveying community resolve many of the issues that arise during anapplication review process.

You have graciously offered your time and your crew’s time in many of the outreach efforts our chapterhas put forth in the local schools and have been an active participant in the Math Counts competition for sever-al years. And you encourage and mentor your crews to improve their skills and gain the status of ProfessionalLand Surveys.

Please accept our heartfelt thanks for the effort and dedication you have given to our community.

Sincerely, Thomas W. Sylvester, PE & PLS, President, Western Colorado Land Surveyors

SIDE SHOTS • 27

Survey StoriesBy Jim Sommerville

When hiring someone on thespur of the moment, say in a bar atmidnight, you never know what youare going to end up with. Talking tosomeone in a social setting doesnot always give you the true capa-bilities of that person. I came to thisrealization early in my surveyingcareer.

While conducting a power linesurvey in the mountains of Coloradobetween Dillon and Georgetown, itbecame necessary to add on anadditional helper. No experiencewas needed, they didn’t need tothink, just be able to carry heavyloads up steep mountains. We helda short, productive search thatevening to the bar of which we madenightly visits. The interview wasshort and we asked questions whilewe drank beer and played pool. Wechose the one that could still talkcoherently when we left the bar.

That next morning at daybreak,we all met at the condominium todiscuss the plan for the day. My jobwas to take the new man and hikeup to a PI on top of a bald knob andturn the reciprocal vertical and hori-zontal angles to the control it hadbeen tied from. This survey tookplace in 1976, so there was a con-siderable amount of equipment tohaul up the hill. The PI was a littleover a half mile with an 1100 ft. ver-tical difference from the truck,through sage brush and smallstands of dense timber. It was abeautiful mountain day, no clouds,with the temperature in the low 60’s,making the hour-long hike almostenjoyable. Upon reaching the PI, Iinstructed my help to start trimmingthe branches on a large evergreenthat was on line with two of the con-trol points I needed to survey. Onefell on each side of the tree, so I toldhim to cut all of the branches offflush with the tree trunk, as this wasrequired by the forest service, up toa branch I pointed out that wasabout 20 ft. above the ground. Ashe was doing this I got the instru-ment set up and did my calculations.

A half hour or so had passedwhen I heard my new, no experi-ence needed, help call my name.As I looked over to where he had

been trimming branches, I couldsee that he had done exactly as Ihad instructed. The branches hadbeen sawn off at the trunk of thetree up to the branch I had told himto stop at: The one and the samebranch he was sitting on! With hisfeet dangling, the saw in his righthand and holding a branch at headlevel with his left hand, the look onhis face was a mixture of emotions.He had done such a great job oftrimming off the limbs that therewas no way for him to climb down.The slope that the tree was on wastoo steep for him to jump and I did-n’t have a rope, so there he sat.Personally, my urge to throw rocksat him was almost unbearable. Myonly option was to hike back to thetruck, grab a handful of spikes anda hammer, and hike back to the treeand pound in the spikes as amakeshift ladder. This I did, except,prior to the pounding of the spikes, Inegotiated payment for the grief hislack of common sense had causedme. Three steak dinners would beenough compensation, of which heagreed with little hesitation. Threeplus hours sitting on the branch wasa great bargaining chip. After manyyears of telling this story and think-ing about it, most of the fault lieswith me. While his lack of commonsense did contribute, he did exactlywhat I told him to do.

This is only one of the memo-ries I have accumulated over themany years I have been surveying.All these memories become storiesthat are repeated over and over, ahistory, for the most part, that hasgone unwritten and lost forever. Wehave all read the stories of the greatsurveyors of the past, but there areno books conveying the personalstories of the everyday surveyor.We tell of our exploits to family,friends, peers and anybody who willlisten. Stories are how we build ourself esteem and fortify our reasonsfor being surveyors.

Over the years I have had theopportunity to sit and listen to sto-ries being told by people from avariety of occupations, includingrailroad engineers telling of theirnear disasters, old miners recount-

ing their hardships, old, and I meanreally old, cowboys telling tails ofencounters with the Indians, cattle-man vs. sheepherders, home-steading and so on. Every occupa-tion has their stories. Some aremore exciting than others while oth-ers don’t mean anything to anyoneoutside that particular occupation,or profession.

Surveying encompasses a vastnumber of other occupations andprofessions. To the surveyors read-ing this list, try to think of how manytimes you have had to apply someof the skills of these other profes-sions: trucker, EMT, cowboy, lawyer,mediator, mechanic, outfitter, detec-tive, miner, engineer, constructionworker, environmentalist…and thelist is as long as one’s mind canimagine.

The stories that all people tellare a small part of their personalhistories. We have all read storiesof the famous surveyors of the pastand may even know some of therenowned men and women in theprofession now. The stories aboutthese people are history. These arethe people who have written thebooks and manuals by which weconduct our surveys. They are partof our overall professional history.But what about all the unwrittenpersonal stories by the thousandsof surveyors across this vast coun-try? Are they not part of our profes-sional history, though less famous,but just as much a rich part of it?The finding of an interesting landcorner, the three and one half footrattlesnake who’s fangs got caughtin the cuff of a pant leg after amissed strike, losing a wheel andaxel on a trailer loaded with 4x4claim posts on the highway, cross-sectioning the Colorado river at highwater, getting caught in a railroadtunnel by the Amtrak train, hangingoff a 90-ft cliff to set power poleanchors, …these are a small num-ber of memories of just one survey-or. If we got together and compileda book of our experiences, exploitsand conquests, we could establishan impressive historic record of ourpersonal experiences.

SIDE SHOTS • 28

‘All Experience Counts’Advice to Young People Entering the Profession of Land Surveying

By: Dean F. Glorso, PLS

In 1967, I was working in an automotive garage justoutside Chicago, Illinois where we serviced a fleet ofconstruction vehicles for a land development and homebuilding firm. It just so happened, one of the surveycrews were in for an oil change one day, and a buddyhad recommended me for a rodman job on their crew. Ididn’t know it then, but this was the beginning of my “40year plus” career as a land surveyor.

Learning the field work was wonderful, but theChicago winters were brutal. So I decided to learneverything I could to qualify myself for work in the officeduring the winter months. If I saw that blueprints need-ed running, I volunteered to scurry them through the oldDiazo machine. When I observed the men at the draft-ing tables complaining about drawing so many plotplans, I told my boss about my mechanical draftingclass in high school, and volunteered to help. I alsonoticed the secretaries’ spite, in the front office, for typ-

ing the complex legal descriptions. So I told my bossabout the typing class I had in high school, and wantedto take a shot at that job too. He soon put me to workon a drafting table and a manual typewriter where I con-tinued to observe, ask questions and struggle to typethose crazy legal descriptions. I was slow at typing, butas accurate as I could be, and soon found a regularposition in the busy engineering office for the winter.

Being 19 years old, not in college, and holding a 1-A draft card in the spring of 1968, made me fresh meatfor the military. My Greetings from Uncle Sam came onmy 20th birthday only a few weeks after the start of theTET Offensive in Vietnam. The War was escalating andthe “Greeting” told me to report to the Chicago InductionCenter in the next 30 days. I attempted enlistment inthe Navy Sea Bees (construction arm of the U.S. Navy& U.S. Marine Corps), so I could continue my love forsurveying, but the recruiter told me it was too late once Ireceived the draft notice. I was poised to go into theArmy, or so I thought.

On the day of my induction they asked for volun-teers into the United States Marine Corps. Of coursenone of us 300 inductees in the room jumped at thatchance, as the battle for Khe Sanh was stacking up biglists of Marine casualties on the front pages of thenewspapers every day. As I stood in line waiting to takethe physical exam, it seemed like an even grimmer situ-ation when an Army Sergeant placed a pink slip ofpaper on the top of my stack of documents indicating Iwould be one of the so called Marine Corps “volun-teers”. I knew nothing about the Marine Corps, otherthan Lance Corporal Richard R. Mullin, a Marine frommy hometown had been killed serving in Vietnam a yearearlier. I would soon learn that all Marines are, first andforemost, Riflemen. Or as they fondly call themselves,“Grunts”.

Four of us on the plane to the Marine Corps RecruitDepot in San Diego held special travel orders. We wereset apart from the rest of the traveling group as“Inductees”. Because we didn’t actually volunteer, wefour especially didn’t want to be there, and were brand-ed with an “SS” next to our service numbers. The “SS”stood for “Selective Service”. Seeing this next to ourservice numbers, the Marine Corps Drill Instructorswould soon give us a “special” attitude adjustment dur-ing the next 10 weeks of Marine boot camp.

At one point during the week long initial aptitudetesting, I was asked if I wanted to take a typing test.“Yes sir!” was my reply and I proceeded to nervouslytype only 19 words a minute on an old manual Under-wood typewriter. For the remaining 10 weeks of hell, Idid my best to adjust my outlook and accept the factthat I would probably die in the jungles of Vietnam. “Itwas just a matter of time”, I thought.

Upon graduation from Boot Camp, the 65-man pla-toon huddled together in one of the quonset huts while

PFC Dean F. Glorso, All Weather Marine Attack Squadron242, Marine Air Group 11, 1st Marine Air Wing, Republic ofVietnam – 1969 (A6A Aircraft #7) web site FYI: www.vma-aw-242.com Photo by Capt. K.C. “Kit” Corcoran

SIDE SHOTS • 29

the Drill Instructor (D.I.) read offnames, numbers, and destinations.Soon I heard him say, “Glorso,0141, WestPac”. “Sir, what doesthat mean?” I asked standing atattention. “WestPac means you’regoing to die, Maggot”, he scornedas his evil eyes met mine. “West-Pac is Vietnam, Private, you gotorders for the First MARDIV (FirstMarine Division). You’ll be up northwhere the action is.”

After more months of training, Isoon found myself on an airplane toVietnam in November 1968. Westopped in Okinawa for 5 days ofmore processing before our finalapproach to DaNang. For someunknown reason a clerk stampedmy original orders with a big red“CANCELLED” stamp. Thenchanged “1STMAR DIV” to“1STMAW”. Having no idea whatthat meant, I asked around untilsomeone told me that I was goingto the First Marine Air Wing insteadof the First Marine Division. Oncein DaNang, I was instructed toboard a truck loaded with SouthVietnam civilians and get off at aplace called MAG 11 (Marine Air

Group 11). Traveling alone in theback of that 6X6 truck in the mon-soon rain, in a foreign land withpeople I could not communicatewith, was the loneliest time in mylife. Soon the driver stopped andyelled out the window, this is MAG11. As I got out of the back of thetruck, his arm pointed out the halfrolled down window toward a tinroof covered hut. “Report in there”,he said.

Holding my sea bag in thedownpour, trying to keep it out ofthe mud, I made my way to thedimly lit hut. After bumping myhead hard on the low cut doorway, Icould see there were 4 Marines inthe building sitting behind crates fordesks with typewriters. I steppedup to the Sergeant’s desk and pre-sented my documents. He openedthem, and said excitedly, “HeyGunny, we got a ‘0141’ here!”Soon I was surrounded by Marineswanting to shake my hand and theword was spread to the adjacenthut where a Lieutenant came overto greet me. When I was greetedby a Lance Corporal called “Ski”, Ilearned I was his replacement and

this hut would be my duty station forthe next 365 days.

Every skill learned, even thoughnot perfected, will count in yourcareer. My ability to type 19 wordsa minute in the United StatesMarine Corps kept me out of thejungles of Vietnam and probablysaved my life. As a clerk at thisduty station, I continued to observe,ask questions, and learn as muchas I could about the operations of aMarine Attack Air Squadron in theRepublic of Vietnam. Soon mysuperiors put me in charge of thesquadron mail room, a job thatgained the respect of both juniorand senior alike. Before E-mail anda cell phone, the U.S. Mail was thelife line to loved ones back in “theworld”. The Mail Clerk job preparedme to accept responsibility andgave me organizational skills tolater run a land surveying business.Soak in the knowledge, for younever know what skill may justsomeday save your life.

Now AvailableA masterful documentation andhistorical perspective of each initialsurveying point for federal publiclands in the United States. Publishedin 9x12 format, Initial Points of theRectangular Survey System featuresa 4-color section with more than130 photos depicting monumentsand landmarks.

C.Albert White's second book,

IINNIITTIIAALL PPOOIINNTTSSOOFF TTHHEE RREECCTTAANNGGUULLAARR SSUURRVVEEYY SSYYSSTTEEMM

Mr.White's first book, A History of the Rectangular Survey System,published by the BLM in 1983, is considered the definitive work onthe U.S. Public Land Survey System.Arguably the most distinguishedauthority on the history of nineteenth and twentieth century publiclands surveying,White began his career with the General Land Officein 1946. Both as BLM and a private surveyor, he applied his zeal to awide range of activities.White's expertise represents a bridgebetween the wisdom and experience of the American heritage ofland settlement and the contemporary uses of surveying technology.

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Published by the Colorado Professional Land Surveyors Educational Foundation, Inc., a non-profit foundation, Initial Points of the Rectangular Survey System is undertaken in the spirit of, and dedication to, Mr. White's remarkable contributions to his field.

Net proceeds from its sale will be returned to the Professional Land Surveyors of Colorado Inc. Scholarship Fund.

1 $892-5 $796-10 $69

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