“Absolutely fundamental to orderly, systematic land management is to know with a degree of certainty 

the boundaries of the lands being managed. Every aspect of the Bureau of Land Management’s 

mission and programs relies on legally defi ned land boundaries. A report by the Offi ce of Inspector 

General recognized this and identifi ed the need for greater collaboration among all our programs and 

disciplines in determining the land boundary assessment needs across the BLM. I encourage all BLM 

employees, especially those involved in processing and approving high-value realty transactions, to 

take the opportunity to use the information in this brochure as a resource for learning more about the 

boundaries that affect the federal interest lands you manage.”

– Bob Abbey, BLM Director

U.S. Department of the Interior 

Bureau of Land Management

Cadastral Survey

Management of

Land Boundaries
About the Bureau of

Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), within the 

Department of the Interior (DOI), manages more than 

245 million acres of public land primarily located in 12 western 

states, including Alaska. The bureau also administers 

700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate throughout 

the nation. The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the 

health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use 

and enjoyment of present and future generations. The bureau 

accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor 

recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy 

production and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and 

other resources on public lands.

History of the

Cadastral Program

The “rectangular survey system” was fi rst proposed by 

Thomas Jefferson and enacted into law by the Land Ordinance 

of 1785. The Land Ordinance provided the basis for the Public 

Land Survey System (PLSS), which is a way of subdividing and 

describing land, mainly in the Western United States. To handle 

the rapidly increasing surveys, public land sales, patents, and land 

entries, Congress created the General Land Offi ce in 1812.

The BLM assumed responsibility for the cadastral efforts of the 

early United States in 1946, when the merger of the General Land 

Offi ce and Grazing Service formed the BLM. Today, the BLM 

maintains the offi cial records of more than 200 years’ worth of title 

and cadastral survey records. The bureau performs new surveys, 

mostly in Alaska and Arizona, and also conducts resurveys. It is 

important to resurvey land to restore obliterated or lost survey 

corners and to enhance the management of all federal and 

tribal lands. Cadastral surveys create, restore, mark, and defi ne 

boundaries and subdivisions of land.
The Cadastral Program’s 

Customers

The BLM cadastral survey program surveys federal interest 

lands, which are located in all 50 states in rural or metropolitan 

areas. Customers include all federal land management 

agencies, such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of 

Reclamation, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, 

National Park Service, Offi ce of Surface Mining Reclamation 

and Enforcement, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. 

Forest Service. By regulation, cadastral surveys can also be 

conducted for nonfederal entities.

How Does the 

Cadastral Program 

Help Customers?

sold, and identifying boundaries of wilderness and other 

special areas.

► Consultation services provide clarifi cation to common 

misconceptions about boundary and title issues. Some 

common misconceptions are:

▪ Unwritten rights cannot impact acquired federal 

interest lands

▪ A deed description that mathematically closes is a 

sign of a good title or boundaries free from confl ict

▪ Vested, third-party rights may not affect uses of land

▪ Effects of water movement have no impact on land 

ownership and/or boundary lines

▪ The use of geographic information systems (GIS) 

that are not measurement-based provide accurate 

boundaries 

► Furthermore, the cadastral survey program provides 

services for the BIA, Offi ce of the Special Trustee for 

American Indians, tribes, individual Native Americans, 

Alaska Natives, and native corporations.

The primary mission of the BLM cadastral survey program is 

the establishment and preservation of the PLSS and boundary 

determination of federal interest lands. An offi cial survey by 

the BLM is binding on all governmental offi cials and cannot be 

changed except by the BLM or a higher jurisdiction. Cadastral 

surveys are the foundation for land title records and provide 

federal, tribal, and Alaska Native Corporation land managers 

with information necessary for the management of their lands.

► The cadastral survey program provides direct support to 

the BLM’s fi re, forestry, law enforcement, mineral, realty, 

special area, and recreation programs.

► The cadastral survey program assists federal, tribal, and 

Alaska Native land management agencies by interpreting 

and analyzing survey plats, locating boundary markers in 

the fi eld, and performing new and retracement cadastral 

surveys when necessary evidence can be done by the 

standards for boundary evidence certifi cate process, 

instead of having a full survey.

► Other services involve surveys to assist in: the resolution 

of trespass upon public lands, defi ning the boundaries 

of timber sales, rights-of-way, leasing lands to local 

communities under the Recreation and Public Purposes 

Act, identifying boundaries of lands to be exchanged or 
Specifi c Examples for Contacting

the BLM Cadastral Survey Program

1) BLM cadastral surveyors are trained to help when a 

manager, program lead, or neighbor of federal interest 

land needs an answer regarding survey records or 

surveying principles. Oftentimes, a 15-minute consultation 

can avoid unnecessary disputes and enable immediate 

implementation of a transaction or project.

2) In coal and oil and gas country, the value of the minerals 

obliges the federal government to assure lease operators 

do not exceed the bounds of their lease. The BLM 

cadastral survey program provides advice to managers, 

program leads, and lease operators on management of 

lease boundaries.

3) In timber country, the value of the timber obliges the 

federal government to conduct sale of timber to marked 

property boundaries. The BLM cadastral survey program 

will advise the manager, program lead, and neighbors of 

options to obtain the necessary assurances that timber 

is managed to the limits of the federal interest, with no 

waste or trespass.

4) For areas with extensive obliteration of survey evidence, 

or where the evidence is subject to more than one 

interpretation, managers and program leads are advised 

to consult with a member of the cadastral survey 

program. 

5) Anytime there is a likelihood of litigation that involves a 

boundary location confl ict, consultation with a member of 

the cadastral survey program should be scheduled. If an 

offi cial survey is needed, the BLM will defend the survey; 

the survey is an offi cial decision; the survey cannot be 

overturned except by another offi cial survey or a higher 

authority; the survey is binding on all department offi cers; 

and the survey is often given deference by the courts.

6) The BLM cadastral survey program can assist tribes and 

individual Native Americans with standards for boundary 

evidence certifi cates and offi cial surveys for fee to trust 

transactions. To prevent boundary problems, a BIA offi cial 

can submit a request for a boundary evidence certifi cate 

or survey to the BLM. In most cases, the cost is minimal 

in comparison to potential economic benefi ts for individual 

and tribal development.
 The General Land Offi ce marked and set the above corner stones in the summer of 1882. Many years later, a nonfederal landowner did not know 

the actual signifi cance of the stones and moved them while installing a driveway. The driveway encroached upon federal land. This situation could 

have been prevented if the managers of the federal land had been proactive in management of land boundaries, such as asking the cadastral survey 

program to update the corner stones bordering their land into more recognizable monuments.

In the two situations above, structures were built on federal land by adjacent nonfederal landowners. These situations could have been prevented 

if the federal land managers had been proactive in management of land boundaries, such as prioritizing boundary survey operations for potential 

development by adjoiners. Also, if the federal land managers had contacted the cadastral survey program to offi cially mark and post their land, the 

boundaries would have been more noticeable and clear to the nonfederal landowners.

Federally Administered Land

Nonfederal Land

Approximate Property Line

Nonfederal 

Land

Federally 

Administered 

Land
Updated Procedures

boundary evidence certifi cates include land description 

reviews, chain of surveys, certifi cates of inspection and 

possession, and boundary assurance certifi cates.

Some examples of high-market or nonmarket value 

transactions and projects are:

► Sites proposed for renewable energy leases involving 

signifi cant investment and capital improvements

► The disposal of high-valued resources such as timber 

and minerals

► The management of high resource value treasured 

landscapes

Standards for boundary evidence assessments should 

be conducted when high-risk lands adjoin a high-risk 

boundary (i.e., a boundary not clearly marked on the 

ground by an offi cial survey). These assessments 

are a low-cost, quick process to minimize unintended 

encroachments. The fi nal decision to proceed with 

transactions and commercial projects will still remain with 

the authorized offi cer.

In 2006, the BLM launched the Certifi ed Federal 

Surveyors (CFedS) program, designed to train stateregistered professional land surveyors to perform land 

boundary surveys to federal standards. To date, more 

than 500 surveyors across the nation have become 

certifi ed, and many have extensive experience 

working with the standards for Indian trust lands 

boundary evidence. To fi nd a CFedS in your area, go 

to www.cfeds.org.

Effective as of October 2007, the objectives of the 

DOI Departmental Manual, Part 303, Chapter 7, titled 

“Standards for Indian Trust Lands Boundary Evidence,” 

are to:

► Provide a consistent, timely, effi cient, and economical 

assessment of the need for boundary evidence 

relative to Indian trust assets.

► Permit expeditious processing of Indian trust asset 

transactions. 

► Provide managers with a cost- and time-saving 

tool that assists them in making appropriate 

determinations for solutions to Indian trust asset 

boundary issues. 

► Protect and preserve Indian trust assets from 

boundary confl icts, trespass, unauthorized use, and 

ambiguous land descriptions. 

► Properly discharge the Secretary of the Interior’s trust 

responsibilities as to Indian trust assets with a high 

degree of profi ciency, integrity, and care.

In addition, a 2011 BLM instruction memorandum 

(IM No. 2011-122), titled “Plan to Ensure Adequate 

Cadastral Survey Review of Boundary Evidence Prior 

to the Approval of Signifi cant Land and Resource 

Transactions and Commercial Projects,” emphasizes 

less costly and less time-consuming cadastral services 

for public land managers. In lieu of an offi cial survey, a 

boundary evidence assessment can be completed at 

substantially less cost, thus providing additional funds for 

land, resources, and project management. Standards for 
 The fi rst surveyors had to be creative with the materials they used to 

mark corners. Many times they used stones and wooden posts. Now, 

the cadastral survey program updates old corners with monuments 

similar to the one shown above. Current monuments are made out of 

a 28-inch long stainless steel pipe with a 3-inch diameter brass cap, 

which is more noticeable and harder to remove than early corner 

materials. 

The stone in the foreground is a boundary corner, and the mound of 

stones is an accessory to the corner. Some federal land managers 

are unaware of these boundary markers. If these corners are lost or 

disturbed, they can cost thousands of dollars each for replacement. 

The cadastral survey program can replace less recognizable 

boundary corners with a more easily identifi able monument, which 

clearly marks the boundary line.

The above site wasn’t thoroughly examined before the government purchased it. If the cadastral survey program would have been contacted prior 

to the acquisition or exchange of this land, they could have used the standards for boundary evidence certifi cate process. This would have saved 

the government hundreds of thousands of dollars in dealing with the acquired land’s condition. A standards for boundary evidence certifi cate is a tool 

used to detect the condition of the land and the types of problems that title standards and title insurance will often not detect. Federal land managers 

must be aware of all encumbrances on property, which can be determined by the cadastral survey program, before acquiring the property.

Acquired 

Federal Land

Federally Administered Land

Nonfederal

Land
Contacting BLM 

Cadastral Survey

For cadastral survey assistance, contact the BLM state 

offi ce chief cadastral surveyor within the jurisdiction 

where the land is located. If the land is a tribal trust, 

restricted fee, fee to trust transaction, or candidate for 

a fee to trust transaction, contact the BLM Indian lands 

surveyor assigned to the BIA regional offi ce where the 

land is located.

Contact information for chief cadastral surveyors, BLM 

Indian lands surveyors, and other helpful information can 

be found at www.blm.gov/cadastral.

In the past, the federal interest land shown above was a wild land setting, but it has been developed into an urban setting with many different 

boundaries and uses. The cadastral survey program can help land managers maintain boundaries, review rights-of-way documents, and help with 

the location of utility corridors.