# Presentation: 274919

## Slide 1

## The Surveyor and theNext Edition of theManual of Surveying Instructions

- The Surveyor and theNext Edition of the_Manual of Surveying Instructions_

- Presented by:
- John Lee, Chief Cadastral Surveyor
- BLM Wyoming State Office, Cheyenne, WY
- Bob Dahl, Cadastral Surveyor
- BLM Lands and Realty Group, Washington, D.C.
- Wyoming Engineering Society
- 85th Annual Convention
- Gillette, WY – February 4, 2005

##    What is the Manual of Surveying Instructions?

-    What is the Manual of Surveying Instructions?
-   Why is the Manual relevant to the PLS in Wyoming?

- Agenda

**Notes:**
Today we will discuss; "What is the Manual?" "Should there be a Manual?" "Does there need to be a next edition of the Manual?" "How should the BLM develop the next edition?" "What role, if any, the surveying and other interested communities want to/should play in the development of the next edition?" etc.

This next edition presentation is centered around how the Manual is relevant to and affects the work of the county and private surveyors, by citing state statutes, state regulations, and state cases, and federal statutes and cases, which reference the Manual.

##  What is impetus for the next edition?

-  What is impetus for the next edition?
-  Scope of the project
- 	– Technical project nested in a web of administration
-  What is the process?
-  How are we going about it?
-  Where are we to date?

- Agenda

**Notes:**
The technical project is wrapped within an overarching administrative process.
The BLM Cadastral Survey is a little frog in a big pond when it comes to a program within the Federal government.
Cadastral Survey is not always in complete control of it's own destiny.
There are lots and lots of people, none of them surveyors, and most with little comprehension of what surveyors do, who must give their blessing before the next edition can be issued.

## Scope of the Project

- President’s Management Agenda
- Department of the Interior
- Bureau of Land Management
- Cadastral Survey
- Next Edition Manual

**Notes:**
     Our destiny, more than ever in past history, can be influenced by the executive branch.  The President is involved more than ever before in the legislative process on Capitol Hill.  This intertwined with the President’s Management Agenda, a package of reform initiatives, carries and provides the principles and direction that the federal government will be pursuing.  
     The BLM is now addressing five components of the President’s Management Agenda: 1) Strategic Management of Human Capital; 2) Improving Financial Performance; 3) Expanding E-Government; 4) Budget and Performance Integration; and 5) Competitive Sourcing.
     What influence will these things have upon our business, our development of the next edition of the Manual of Surveying Instructions? We really do not know.  We may not know our destiny, there are many factors – aging workforce, expanding national debt, transition from a paper based society to an electronic base, etc., all has a direct impact on the management of the PLSS.  Where our existence plugs into the Department’s overall mission and objectives at times are not fully known.
     In order for the Cadastral System to effectively continue in conformance to statutory law, we need your support more than ever, e.g, we have Land Managers who are more in tune with GIS issues than the significant changes that have occurred in the law, policies, and technology that directly impact the Land Surveying Community.
     To foster a Nation of citizen stewards, Secretary of the Interior Norton is advancing a 4C’s philosophy – conservation through cooperation, communication, and consultation. In this session today, you will have the opportunity to provide input, in fact it is our hope to engage you in most of the material that will be presented.

## Slide 6

**Notes:**
The Department of the Interior consists of 8 Bureaus and 7 Offices consisting of 70,300 +/- full time employees. DOI full time personnel accounts for 51⁄2% of total number of professional people on the federal pay role.

Cadastral Survey full time personnel accounts for approximately 1⁄2 of 1% of the total full time personnel within the DOI.

## Bureau of Land Management

**Notes:**
Within BLM, Cadastral Survey full time personnel accounts for approximately 2% of the total.

## What is the

- _Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States_? (Manual)

- Whom/What is affected?

**Notes:**
The Manual has implications to:
Federal Authority (Official) Surveys;  Administrative Surveys;  State Authority Surveys;  Local Surveys;
Registered Professional Land Surveyors;  Landowners;  Legal profession;  Title Industry;  Others.
The intended audience is the federal authority surveyor including:
The field surveyor.
The special instructions writer.
The survey reviewer.
The draftsman.
The Cadastral Chief.
By state legislative and/or judicial action the intended audience can be anyone practicing land surveying.
The Manual can affect various land status:
Federal Public Lands;  Federal Acquired Lands;  Non-Federal Lands including Private Lands.
The Manual can be characterized as a collect of general instructions:  a) Chasing the law.  B) Stating the “law.”

Who is affected by the Manual?  And how are they affected by the Manual?
affected – to act upon:  to produce an effect upon:  To produce a material influence upon or alteration:  Influence, Touch, Impress, Strike, Sway.

## Why is the Manual

- Relevant to the PLS in Wyoming?

## WYOMING STATUTES

- (i) The county surveyor or registered land surveyor;
- (ii) after determination it is a lost corner, shall proceed in accordance with the Manual and Restoration Pamphlet

- § 18-3-704. Establishment of lost corners.
- (a) Whenever a monument location is in dispute

**Notes:**
Wyoming Statutes
Title 18. Counties
Chapter 3. County Officers
Article 7. County Surveyors
§ 18-3-704.  Establishment of lost corners.
  Whenever the location of any monument which marks the corner of any tract or tracts of land is in dispute between the owners of the adjoining lands, the monument shall be established as follows:
  The county surveyor of the county in which the corner is located or any registered land surveyor employed by one of the landowners shall ...
  ... the county surveyor or land surveyor shall ... proceed to reestablish or restore the corner after having determined by careful surveys and investigations that the original corner cannot be recovered or identified.  He shall proceed in accordance with the surveying rules contained in the circular “Restoration of lost or obliterated corners” and the “manual of instructions for the survey of public lands”, issued by the general land office of the United States government.  ... He shall accurately take and note courses and distances referred to in the true meridian, ...
  He shall make a map or plat of the survey and record a copy of it together with a copy of the field notes, applications for survey, notice to and names of the interested parties and all other pertinent papers in the office of the county surveyor and county clerk in the county in which the land is located.  He shall file a copy of the same papers in the public survey office, department of the interior, Cheyenne, Wyoming.  The monument or monuments reestablished or restored shall be held to mark the original corner or corners and shall have the legal force and effect as stated in the original record of the survey;

Enacted in 1890.

## § 037-100-005Sec.1(b)(viii)PLS shall conduct a survey, involving public land corners or section retracement or breakdown, in accordance with the Manual and Restoration Pamphlet

- § 037-100-005Sec.1(b)(viii)PLS shall conduct a survey, involving public land corners or section retracement or breakdown, in accordance with the Manual and Restoration Pamphlet

- WYOMING ADMINISTRATIVE RULES

**Notes:**
Wyoming Administrative Rules
Agency 037. State Engineer
Sub-Agency 100. Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors
Rules and Regulations
Chapter 005. Regulatory

Section 1. Rules of Professional Conduct.
  All registrants shall comply with the following standards.
 A registrant shall conduct a land survey engagement, involving public land corners or section retracement or breakdown, in accordance with the appropriate “Manual of Surveying Instructions” and circular entitled “Restoration of Lost and Obliterated Corners” issued by the Bureau of Land Management, United States Department of Interior;

## § 037-100-005 Sec. 6(a)PLS must follow the Manual and Restoration Pamphlet for any PLSS corner established, reestablished, monumented, remonumented, restored, rehabilitated, perpetuated or used as control in any survey

- § 037-100-005 Sec. 6(a)PLS must follow the Manual and Restoration Pamphlet for any PLSS corner established, reestablished, monumented, remonumented, restored, rehabilitated, perpetuated or used as control in any survey

- WYOMING ADMINISTRATIVE RULES

**Notes:**
Wyoming Administrative Rules
Agency 037. State Engineer
Sub-Agency 100. Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors
Rules and Regulations
Chapter 005. Regulatory

Section 6. Subdivision of Sections of the Public Land Survey System.
(a)  For the subdivision of any section, resurvey tract or lot of the public land survey system, the registrant shall be required to recover or reestablish all of the corners established and monumented during the original government survey or resurvey, which are relevant to the subdivision. The registrant must follow the "Manual of Instructions for the Survey of Public Lands of the United States" and the publication, "Restoration of Lost or Obliterated Corners and Subdivision of Sections," current editions, for any public land survey corner established, reestablished, monumented, remonumented, restored, rehabilitated, perpetuated or used as control in any survey. The words establish or reestablish as used in the manual shall mean to determine the true position of a corner and set a monument which meets the above standards.

## § 037-100-008 Sec. 3(c)(iv)The system of marking PLSS monuments shall follow the Manual

- § 037-100-008 Sec. 3(c)(iv)The system of marking PLSS monuments shall follow the Manual

- WYOMING ADMINISTRATIVE RULES

**Notes:**
Wyoming Administrative Rules
Agency 037. State Engineer
Sub-Agency 100. Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors
Chapter 008. General Provisions – Corner Record
Section 3. Preparation and Filing of Corner Records.
or (c)  Corner Records relating to corners of the Public Land Survey System shall include the following information:
Description – including material, inscriptions, dimensions, of the monument and accessories – used to perpetuate and rehabilitate the original location of the corner. Where appropriate, the system of marking monuments shall follow the “Manual of Instructions for the Survey of Public Lands,” current edition;

For the state statutory definition of a “public land survey corner” see W.S. § 33-29-141(a)(iii) –
A “public land survey corner” is any corner actually established and monumented in an original survey or resurvey used as a basis of legal description for issuing a patent for the land to a private person from the United States government;

For the state administrative rules definition for “public land survey corner” see W.A.R. §§ 037-100-005 sections 4-6 and 037-100-008 section 3(b)

## SUPREME COURT OF WYOMINGPorter v. State, 16 Wyo. 131; 92 P. 385 (1907)

- SUPREME COURT OF WYOMINGPorter v. State, 16 Wyo. 131; 92 P. 385 (1907)

- After quoting predecessor to W.S. § 18-3-704, stated this procedure to ascertain a boundary location was a statutory right

**Notes:**
Supreme Court of Wyoming
Porter v. State, 16 Wyo. 131, 137, 92 P. 385 (1907)
“The question at issue turned upon the location of the line between the lands of the parties and was as to whether the plaintiff in error had gone upon the land of Stoner, nothing being said in the order as to Stoner's enclosure, and the land described being referred to by legal subdivisions only. The plaintiff in error long prior to the issuance and service of the writ of injunction availed himself of the provisions of Section 1188, Revised Statutes of 1899. That section is as follows:” (now W.S. § 18-3-704)

“The plaintiff in error was entitled to the exercise of this statutory right, and having done so in good faith for the purpose of ascertaining the boundary of his land and such boundary having been so established he had a right, in the absence of any injunction restraining him from so doing, to enter and make such improvements thereon within the boundaries so fixed as he deemed advisable. It will be observed that the plaintiff in error was not restrained from entering Stoner's enclosure, but from entering upon certain legal subdivisions as fixed and designated by the government survey. The testimony on behalf of Stoner, the complainant, went only to show that the plaintiff in error had entered upon some of the land enclosed by Stoner's fence, assuming apparently that the right to go inside the enclosure was in issue and that the right of Stoner to the exclusive possession of the land in the enclosure was protected by the injunction. But the writ only ordered the defendant, his servants, etc., "to absolutely desist and refrain from entering upon the land and premises or any part thereof described in said petition, said land being described as follows, to-wit: The southwest quarter of the northeast quarter, and the south half of the northwest quarter of section three; and the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section four, township 24 north, range 119 west of the 6th principal meridian, and from digging post holes thereon and from committing any of the acts complained of in plaintiff's petition." Not only is the evidence insufficient to sustain the decision, but there is an affirmative showing that the defendant was not guilty of disobedience of the order of injunction.”

## UNITED STATES CODETitle 43 Public Lands § 2

- UNITED STATES CODETitle 43 Public Lands § 2

- The Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate (BLM) shall perform all executive duties appertaining to the surveying and sale of the public lands of the United States

**Notes:**
United States Code
Title 43
Public Lands
§ 2. Duties concerning public lands
The Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate shall perform all executive duties appertaining to the surveying and sale of the public lands of the United States, or in anywise respecting such public lands, and, also, such as relate to private claims of land, and the issuing of patents for all grants of land under the authority of the Government.
R.S. § 453.
Derived from Acts of April 25, 1812, 2 Stat. 716; July 4, 1836, 5 Stat. 107; June 6, 1874, 18 Stat. 62; February 18, 1875, 18 Stat. 317.

Where does the Manual come from?
Why was it created?
Who created the Manual?

## UNITED STATES CODETitle 25 Indians § 176

- UNITED STATES CODETitle 25 Indians § 176

- Whenever it becomes necessary to survey any Indian lands, the same shall be surveyed under the direction and control of the BLM

- And as nearly as may be in conformity to the rules and regulations under which other public lands are surveyed

**Notes:**
United States Code
Title 25
Indians

§ 176. Survey of reservations
Whenever it becomes necessary to survey any Indian or other reservations, or any lands, the same shall be surveyed under the direction and control of the Bureau of Land Management, and as nearly as may be in conformity to the rules and regulations under which other public lands are surveyed.

Codifications
R.S. § 2115 was from Act of April 8, 1864, 13 Stat. 41.

## United States Supreme Court

- It is settled law that the United States may survey what it owns and thereby establish and reestablish boundaries, but what the government does in this regard is for its own information and cannot affect the rights of owners on the other side of an existing boundary. *United States v. State Investment Co., 264 U.S. 206, 212 (1924)*, citing *Lane v. Darlington, 249 U.S. 331, 333 (1919)*.

**Notes:**
The Resurvey Acts of 1909 and 1918 as amended:
The Secretary of the Interior may cause to be made, resurveys of public lands and of privately owned lands: Provided, That no such resurvey shall be so executed as to impair the bona fide rights or claims of any claimant, entryman, or owner of lands affected by such resurvey.

43 U.S.C. 772; Act of March 3, 1909, 35 Stat. 845; as amended by the Act of June 25, 1910, 36 Stat. 884; and by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of October 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2743, 2792.

43 U.S.C. 773; Act of September 21, 1918, 40 Stat. 965.

## MANUALThe Manual of Surveying Instructions describes how cadastral surveys of the public lands are made in conformance to statutory law and its judicial interpretation. (1973 Manual § 1-1.)

- _MANUAL_The Manual of Surveying Instructions describes how cadastral surveys of the public lands are made in conformance to statutory law and its judicial interpretation. (1973 Manual § 1-1.)

- It is within the province of the Director to determine what are public lands, what lands have been surveyed, what are to be surveyed, what have been disposed of, what remains to be disposed of, and what are reserved.
- (1973 Manual § 1-11.)

**Notes:**
The Manual - Purpose and Scope of the Manual
1973 Manual § 1-1. The Manual of Surveying Instructions describes how cadastral surveys of the public lands are made in conformance to statutory law and its judicial interpretation.
1973 Manual § 1-11.  It is within the province of the Director of the Bureau of Land Management to determine what are public lands, what lands have been surveyed, what are to be surveyed, what have been disposed of, what remains to be disposed of, and what are reserved.

     What percentage of Wyoming has been surveyed under the PLSS?

## By fundamental law, upon the issuance of a patent for land by the Federal government; it is just as if the survey plat and field notes, and the laws, regulations and rules governing how to survey the land described in the patent, are stapled to the face of the patent.

- The survey rules are spelled out in the manuals, circulars and instructions issued by the GLO and later by the BLM.

**Notes:**
By fundamental law, upon the issuance of a patent for land by the Federal government; it is just as if the survey plat and field notes, the laws, regulations, and the rules governing how to survey the land described in the patent, are stapled to the face of the patent.

The survey rules are spelled out in the manuals, circulars and instructions issued by the General Land Office and later by the Bureau of Land Management.

If later a boundary location becomes unclear the Manual is the guidance (the rules) governing the relocation of the corners and boundaries in conformance to the controlling survey plat(s), field notes, laws, and regulations.

## Is there still a need for the Manual?

**Notes:**
If no:  a) do nothing, or b) repeal?

If there is still a need for the Manual:  Should any change be made to the 1973 edition?

If no need for a change to the 1973 edition:  a) do nothing, or b) reprint?

If there is a need for a change to the 1973 edition:  a) what, and b) how?

The PLSS is evolving.  Never before has the PLSS had 80 to 90 year old GLO resurveys; 100 years of river movement after the patent survey with 20 year old valuable improvements.

## Next Edition Website

- _[http://www.blm.gov/cadastral/Manual/nextedition.htm](http://www.blm.gov/cadastral/Manual/nextedition.htm)_
- Contact Information
- Announcements:  Upcoming Presentations
- General Information

**Notes:**
Move into the resources available to keep track of the process and a discussion of the process itself.

## Slide 22