The Surveyor and the Next Edition of the Manual of Surveying Instructions Presented by: Bob Dahl, Cadastral Surveyor BLM Lands and Realty Group, Washington, D.C. Randy Bloom, Cadastral Surveyor BLM Colorado State Office, Denver, CO Professional Land Surveyors of Colorado Fall Technical Session Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO – December 4, 2004

What is the Manual of Surveying Instructions? Why is the Manual relevant to the RLS in Colorado? Agenda

Which edition of the Manual weighs more: The 1947 or The 1973? Will the next edition weigh more than the 1973 Manual? Agenda

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

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

Bureau of Land Management

Cadastral Presence Within DOI – BLM is 1 of 15 Bureaus and Offices Within BLM – Cadastral is one of nearly 60 programs

What is the Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States? (Manual)

Why is it Relevant to the RLS in Colorado?

COLORADO REVISED STATUTES Procedure for subdividing section CRS § (1) PLS locating a parcel of land in the PLSS shall proceed according to the current Manual CRS § (2)(d) Location of original aliquot corners, and procedures used in the official survey shall take precedence

Colorado Revised Statutes Disputed boundaries – notice - establishment of legal corner monument CRS § (1) Whenever the proper location of any section or quarter corner is in dispute. (3)(a) The County Surveyor shall establish the corner in accordance with CRS

Bylaws and Rules of the Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors Rule 6.0 – Rules of Professional Land Surveying Practice – Physical Standards for Cap Markings. All caps shall be marked as set forth in Manual

Bylaws and Rules of the Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors Rule 6.0 – Rules of Professional Land Surveying Practice – Procedural Techniques – Surveys Shall Reference Corners. The Manual shall be used as a guide for the restoration of lost or obliterated corners and subdivision of sections into aliquot parts.

Colorado Supreme Court Gaines v. City of Sterling, 342 P.2d 651 (1959) 1) The statute applies the principle of single proportionate rule and correlates with the Manual. 2) The method of reestablishing lost corners is fixed by the rules of the GLO, and numerous decisions of courts.

Cumpston v. Neirinckx, 1 P.3d 752 (2000); Writ of Certiorari Denied by Supreme Court, 2000 Colo. LEXIS 736 (2000) 1) CRS may be used to resolve proper location of a section or quarter corner, in a private boundary dispute.

Cumpston v. Neirinckx, 1 P.3d 752 (2000); Writ of Certiorari Denied by Supreme Court, 2000 Colo. LEXIS 736 (2000) 2) CRS – county surveyor required to establish corner section in accordance with CRS ) The Manual provides guidance to the establishment of an obliterated corner.

UNITED STATES CODE Title 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

UNITED STATES CODE Title 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

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). United States Supreme Court

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.)

Is there still a need for the Manual? Which edition of the Manual weighs more: The 1947 or The 1973? Will the next edition weigh more than the 1973 Manual?

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