News and Events
Archive
- November 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- October 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2018
Surveyors - Key to our independence
“Across 2 expansive wars and 2 transformative peace treaties, the surveyors eye changed the image of America in the British Atlantic world.” - Max Edelson is a professor of history at the University of Virginia.
Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden and our first national park
Surveyors are natural explorers, so they appreciate and enjoy the beauty and infinite variety of nature every day. Unless you choose a profession that includes the outdoors, people must intentionally plan a trip to a county, state or national park. Most people aren’t aware that surveyors were instrumental in the creation of our National Parks, including our first – Yellowstone National Park.
Steve Parrish ‒ A Living Legend
I’m sure most surveyors have heard of the “Final Point” program created by Berntsen International, Inc. and the National Society of Professional Surveyors Foundation (NSPSF). It’s a way to memorialize the work of beloved surveyors who have had a lasting impact on the profession, while supporting the future of surveying through NSPS/Berntsen scholarships.
Underwater by Design
Near midnight on August 4th, 1984, the M/V Wellwood, a 400-foot steel-hulled freighter, struck Molasses Reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. This wasn’t good for the Wellwood, and it was disastrous for Molasses Reef; 1,280 square meters of coral reef habitat was Molasses Reef / Wellwood Restoration Site Monument utterly destroyed, reduced to pulverized coral rubble.
Denali . . . Maybe not just a hike up the mountain
In June of 1989, a team of eight men ─ formally called The 1989 Mt. McKinley Global Positioning Expedition ─ set out from a base camp to perform one of the most unusual survey projects the world has ever seen. Their mission was to verify, by the most sophisticated satellite positioning methods, the true summit elevation and position of the highest mountain peak on the North American continent, Denali. [Mt. McKinley was renamed with its original name, Denali, in 2015]. The project involved hundreds of hours of planning, thousands of dollars in costs, the use of the most up to date global positioning equipment to track several special military communication satellites orbiting the earth . . . and one Berntsen Survey Monument, which was placed precisely at the summit.
The survey that led to a national park
At the beginning of nearly every autumn season, I set out on vacation, hoping to see new places and learn new things. I often seek out new territory as I did this year, but I also found myself trekking back to a much favored area in Utah: Zion National Park. Although I’ve been there in the past for sightseeing and hiking its impressive rock trails, it is always a joy to visit. And this time, I’d like to especially thank Leo Snow.
Lasting Impressions of Surveying
National Surveyor’s Week is an opportunity to highlight the many benefits of a career in surveying and to celebrate the accomplishments of the surveying community. Over the past year, I’ve been highlighting the work of colonial surveyors, from John Morton to Thomas Jefferson. These early surveyor’s contributions extend far beyond surveying boundaries – their background helped them to literally lay the foundation of our nation.
Daniel Boone, Surveyor - and a bunch of other stuff, too.
One of the little-known facts about the expansion of settlers into the interior territories of the United States was the essential role that surveying played in establishing settlements. As tracts of land were allotted to settlers, these tracts had to be measured, marked and recorded. This effort called for enterprising people who were educated, resourceful, and tough enough to live off the land.