January 29, 2007
The Next Edition of the
Manual of Surveying Instructions
and the Modern Cadastre
Presented by:
Lance Bishop, BLM Chief Cadastral Surveyor
California State Office, Sacramento, CA and
Bob Dahl, BLM Cadastral Surveyor
Lands, Realty & Cadastral Survey Division
Washington, D.C.
46th Annual CSU Fresno Geomatics Engineering Conference
Fresno, CA
January 27, 2007
Agenda
Cadastre – Cadastral – Cadastral Survey
Little Fish in a Big Pond
Case Study
What is the Manual of Surveying
Instructions?
Why is the Manual relevant to the Private,
County and State Surveyors in California?
Agenda
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?
OHA →
↑
IBLA
IBIA
IBCA
Bureau of Land Management
Cadastral Presence
• At the DOI level – BLM is 1 of 15 Bureaus
and Offices
• Within BLM – Cadastral is one of nearly 60
programs
2%
98%
BLM
CADASTRAL
What is the
Manual of Instructions for the
Survey of the Public Lands of the
United States? (Manual)
Whom/What is affected?
Why is the Manual
Relevant to the Private, County and State
Surveyor in California?
Case Study
Group 1474, CA
T. 14 N., R. 13 E., S.B.M.
Section 23
History of Surveys
1856-57 - A.H. Jones originally surveyed the
township lines and subdivisional lines of the
township
1916-17 - J.F. Duling, CE & PLS resurveyed
multiple townships in the area for the Rock
Springs Land and Cattle Co.
1919 San Bernardino County Surveyor‟s office
resurveyed portions of the township
Our First Plan for Survey
•Patents and subsequent sales were based on
aliquot descriptions.
•Because of the elongation and the ¼ between
23/26 was not located only a standard breakdown
of the section was authorized.
•Our survey put most of the structures in trespass
with the NPS.
•Manual cite 6-15.
County Survey 1919
County Survey 1919
Our Retracement
The Manual
Section 5-2
“Where government lands are involved, the final
authority …rests with the BLM”
“If privately owned lands are involved,
consideration is given to any protest made by an
interested person concerning the work done by
the BLM”
The Landowner did protest!
Interior Board of Land Appeals
Long established by the Department‟s Interior
Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) that a protestant
who challenges a government resurvey will have
the burden of demonstrating by a preponderance
of the evidence that the disputed resurvey is not
an accurate retracement of the survey which it
purports to retrace. John W. and Ovada Yeargan,
126 IBLA 361, at 363 (1993)
Our protestant did an outstanding job of proving
his case.
The Manual
continued:
Section 5-21
The rules for the restoration of lost corners should
not be applied until all original and collateral
evidence has been developed…..
The Act of
March 3, 1909:
Manual section 6-12
That no such resurvey or retracement 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 or retracement
The Manual
continued:
Section 6-13
Bona fide rights are those acquired in good faith
under the law.
The Manual
continued:
Section 6-15 continued
The surveyor should neither rigidly apply the rules
for restoration of lost corners without regard to
effect on location of improvements…..
The Manual
continued:
Section 6-17
A claim cannot generally be regarded as having
been located in good faith if no attempts have
been made to relate it in some manner to the
original survey.
Our Final Plat
Conclusions
•Our first direction, albeit in the end wrong, was
well supported in Manual.
•The landowner may have won but still much of
his later improvement are still in trespass.
•We do make mistakes, but our ultimate goal is to
get it right.
CALIFORNIA CODES
Business & Professions Code
Division 3. Professions and Vocations Generally
Chapter 15. Land Surveyors
Article 4. Issuance of License
§ 8741. Divisions of examination
(b) Applicant shall be thoroughly familiar with
Manual of Surveying Instructions procedures and
rules
CALIFORNIA CODES
Business & Professions Code
Division 3. Professions and Vocations Generally
Chapter 15. Land Surveyors
Article 5. Surveying Practice
§ 8773. Filing of written record of corner
establishment or restoration required
(a) & (b) “Lost corner” - defined by the Manual
CALIFORNIA CODE OF REGULATIONS
Title 16. Professional and Vocational Regulations
Division 5. Board for Professional Engineers and
Land Surveyors
Article 4. Miscellaneous
§ 464. Corner Record
(f) BLM standard markings and abbreviations
shall be used
Office of the Attorney General of the State of
California
64 Opinions of the Attorney General 224 (1981)
Manual of Surveying Instructions is “the
authoritative reference book on the subject” of
accessories to corner monuments
CALIFORNIA CODES
Evidence Code
Division 4. Judicial Notice
§ 452. Matters which may be judicially noticed
Regulations of the land office
Actions of the BLM and of Departmental
decisions
STATE COURTS OF CALIFORNIA
Finley v. Yuba County Water District,
99 Cal.App.3d 691 (1979); California v.
Thompson, 22 Cal.App.3d 368 (1971), petitions
for rehearing and hearing denied, by Supreme
Court (1972)
Rules for proportionate measurement is found in
the Manual and Restoration pamphlet
“Obliterated” corner and “lost” corner is defined
by the Manual and the Restoration pamphlet.
STATE COURTS OF CALIFORNIA
Reid v. Dunn, 201 Cal.App.2d 612 (1962), cert.
denied, by Supreme Court (1962)
Record of Survey Map shows careful preparation
and execution of the survey in compliance with
the rules established by the Manual
STATE COURTS OF CALIFORNIA
Hanes v. Hollow Tree Lumber Company,
191 Cal.App.2d 658 (1961), cert. denied, by
Supreme Court (1961)
In unusual situations (up to one mile of distortion
in original survey): unexplained or irreconcilable
discrepancy, fictitious or grossly erroneous field
notes – the Manual is quoted as the law in
California
CALIFORNIA CASE LAW of NOTE
County of Yolo v. Nolan, 144 Cal. 445 (1904)
Surveyor should endeavor to retrace the steps of
the original surveyor
CALIFORNIA CASE LAW of NOTE
Weaver v. Howatt, 161 Cal. 77 (1911); 171 Cal. 302 (1915)
1) Field notes and survey plat constitute parts of
the descriptions in the original patents;
2) Monuments and objects prevail over courses
and distances;
3) Lost corners will be restored by proportionate
measurement; except
CALIFORNIA CASE LAW of NOTE
Weaver v. Howatt, 161 Cal. 77 (1911); 171 Cal. 302 (1915)
4) Proportionate measurement is not used when
it contradicts or conflicts with the official data
that are not impeached and confine the actual
position within certain limits;
5) In that case, the proportionate measurement
position must be confined to the same limits.
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
Other Federal Laws – Containing Survey Rules –
The Federal Survey Rules
Title 43 U.S.C. §§ 751-753, 772, 773
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
INTERIOR BOARD OF LAND APPEALS
Howard Vagneur, 159 IBLA 272 (2003)
1) BLM is authorized to resurvey the corners and
lines of government surveys
2) BLM Survey Manual defines a resurvey
3) Manual defines „existent‟ „obliterated‟ and „lost‟
corners
4) Manual provides guidance to surveyors on
how to base a resurvey on the „best available
evidence‟
INTERIOR BOARD OF LAND APPEALS
Howard Vagneur, 159 IBLA 272 (2003)
5) BLM Official Surveys are presumed regular
and
6) An accurate retracement and reestablishment
of the lines of the original survey
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).
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.)
SUMMARY
By fundamental law, upon the issuance of a
patent for land by the Federal government; it is
just as if the monuments, 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, instructions and regulations issued by
the GLO and later by the BLM.
Is there still a need for the Manual?
Next Edition Website
http://www.blm.gov/cadastral/Manual/nextedition.htm
Contact Information
Announcements: Upcoming Presentations
General Information
http://www.geocommunicator.gov/GeoComm/lsis_
home/home/index.html
http://www.glorecords.blm.gov