What surveyor doesn’t like maps? After all, we either make maps or we implement them, often both. In a departure from his usual legal subject matter, Lloyd Pilchen shares a whimsical mapmaker in this issue’s cover feature. In addition to sculpting and painting, Jo Mora had an extensive career, and his maps are chock full of tiny details that can create hours of delight. Exhibitions of his work are underway, and Lloyd shares the dates in his article.
For those of you who are involved in re-establishing PLSS corners, Oregon surveyor Chuck Whitten shares a case study. Not only did Chuck spend an incredible amount of time and effort in retracing the surveys—when is there ever enough money in the budget to do this?—as you can see, he pictorially documented many of the steps. The article appeared in latest issue of The Oregon Surveyor, the publication of the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon. Hats off to Chuck—who has been surveying for a long time—for going the extra miles to make a sound retracement.
To me, one of the best aspects of surveying—in addition to working outdoors—is the logistics: deciding what tools to use and how to go about making the measurements to achieve the required accuracy. Of course, working in constantly changing locales is also a plus. In a repurposing of an article that appeared in our sister pub, LIDAR Magazine, a group of Florida surveyors tackle an unusual task: monitoring a 25-million-pound crawler that move space launch vehicles to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. The NASA Artemis missions aim to send astronauts to the moon by 2024, but first everything has to be assembled and moved to the pad. As someone who has spent a little time working on government installations, I envy these guys for what looks like a fun project.
We’ve had a good reaction to Emily Pierce’s article about the rope stretchers, with at least one state society asking to reprint it in their newsletter. In this issue, Emily details the origins of the Certified Federal Surveyor program. Like the rope stretcher article, Emily goes beneath the surface to explore the reasons for the program. I find her article fascinating because it explores the history of the Native American allotment system and why the program is needed. Hats off to all of you who have made the effort to obtain this certification.
Rounding out the issue is another thought-provoking installment from Wendy Lathrop, this time about ways in which affordable housing needs can be addressed. For those of you whose practice includes land development, where you might bump into this is in zoning. And as always, Dave Lindell provides another trig problem, and there’s a bonus installment of the GLO Record of the Week, this time pertaining to Wahsatch, Utah. The BLM has expended a lot of effort in creating these gems, and if you’d like to see more simply go to https://bit.ly/3qVauVh
Supply Chain Issues
We are all aware of how the current mess has affected our lives. I hope you have been able to find enough people to do your work. The magazine has also been affected, whether it’s our printer having enough employees or being able to find paper to print the magazine. We could have cut the quality of our magazine, but have refused to do that, preferring instead to continue delivering the kind of publication you have grown to expect. As we begin our 19th year, I hope you will stick with us and if you like the magazine, will support us by subscribing. You can easily do this on our website. I sincerely hope that 2022 will be a good year for you! ◾