On December 11, 2009, Michael Evans, Registered Professional Land Surveyor No. 4715, Chief Executive Officer of Great Southwestern Land Surveyors, LLC, in Mansfield, Texas, was sworn in as Texas’ newest Licensed State Land Surveyor. William D. “Bill” O’Hara, RPLS, LSLS, and Director of the Surveying Division of the Texas General Land Office administered the oath of office. “It was exciting to learn that I had become a Licensed State Land Surveyor, but it was humbling to realize that I will be following in the footsteps of many iconic surveyors of the past and present,” Evans is quoted as saying.
Unlike Texas Registered Professional Land Surveyors, Licensed State Land Surveyors are vested with the authority to make surveys to determine the disposition of the public domain in Texas. Unrecorded patents, vacancies between patent surveys, excess or deficiency of acreage in patent surveys are some of the tasks allocated to Licensed State Land Surveyors. In addition, LSLS’s are authorized to make coastal boundary surveys and to make gradient boundary surveys to determine the boundary between the State of Texas, which owns the streambed, and upland private owners along navigable rivers and streams in Texas. LSLSs are the only Texas surveyors authorized to submit surveys and reports to the Texas General Land Office for these purposes.