Approval Process for Cadastral Survey Documents Pertaining to State Boundaries

Cadastral Surveys (signatures)

To ensure all required signatures are obtained, required notice to State Governments is provided, and to avoid project delays, the HQ Chief Cadastral Surveyor, and the adjoining State Office Chief Cadastral Surveyor, if any, will be notified in writing during project planning.  In most cases this should occur at the time the cadastral service request is received or at the time the need for a cadastral service pertaining to a state boundary is identified.  The notification should include a diagram detailing the following:

• Which corners on the state boundary are to be evaluated
• Whether lost corners on the state boundary are to be monumented
• Whether obliterated corners on the state boundary are to be remonumented
• Any new corners that are to be monumented on, or referencing, the state boundary
• The current land status showing the extent of Federal interest lands

Additional information may be requested based on the complexity of the project.

The SO Chief Cadastral Surveyor is responsible for the technical oversight and review of the cadastral service process and records in the same manner they are responsible for surveys not involving state boundaries.  The HQ Chief Cadastral Surveyor’s review will focus on policy compliance, including any notices required to be sent to State Governments, and the appropriate distribution of records to State Government officials (Refer to Manual of Surveying Instructions (2009) sections 6-32, 9-34, and 9-86). The respective SO will be responsible for sending the required notice(s) to the State Government(s) within their jurisdiction.  The HQ Chief Cadastral Surveyor will be responsible for alerting BLM leadership about potential controversies resulting from the survey.

The HQ Chief Cadastral Surveyor and the appropriate SO Chief Cadastral Surveyor will sign the authorizing documents (special instructions and assignment instructions), and any documents requiring signature that directly relate to the determination of the location of a state boundary or the decision to accept or reject a monument or position that was intended to mark a state boundary.

State boundary surveys that include surveyed lines interior to a state in addition to a state boundary the HQ Chief Cadastral Surveyor and the SO Chief Cadastral Surveyor will sign the plat(s) and the certificate of survey.  Surveys that are solely of a state boundary the HQ Chief Cadastral Surveyor’s signature will replace that of the SO Chief Cadastral Surveyor.

By contrast, administrative documents that are not focused on the state boundary do not require HQ signature.  Documents that do not require HQ signature when the state boundary is only a portion of the survey include, distribution letters (other than to State Governments), correspondence with local landowners, local surveyors, and the public about issues other than the state boundary, and correspondence with the requesting agency or landowner.

Regardless of whether any document requires HQ signature, the SO Chief Cadastral Surveyor will be responsible for the preparation of all documents.  The approved records will be housed in the SO records repository and updated on the SO Public Land Survey System Dataset and land status records where appropriate.

Standards for Boundary Evidence (SBE) Certificates and Administrative Surveys

SBE documents and administrative surveys only require the HQ Chief Cadastral Surveyor’s signature if they require a review of a resurvey of a state boundary, or a description of a parcel that has a state boundary as a boundary.  HQ involvement in SBE reviews or administrative surveys that only involve a state boundary corner as control, or a point of beginning is not required.

For SBE or administrative survey projects that require HQ signature, the HQ Chief Cadastral Surveyor will be notified during project planning.  This notice will include a description of the state boundary corners to be evaluated and the intended purpose of the request for services.  

            Lost State Boundary Corners

The retracement and resurvey of state boundaries are authorized to the extent necessary to provide control for the survey or resurvey of the adjacent lands for the identification of the Federal interest lands; however, because the BLM has no general authority to survey or resurvey state boundaries, monumentation of lost state boundary corners will only occur when the lost state boundary corner directly controls (i.e., is a corner of) the Federal interest land that is the subject of the survey.  (Manual of Surveying Instructions, section 6-31.)  For example, a lost state boundary mile post should be reestablished and monumented if the calculated position is an angle point in the subject Federal interest land boundary.  It should not be monumented if it only serves as remote control for the subject parcel, or if there is no bearing break at the reestablished position.

Obliterated state boundary monuments may be remonumented.