National Park Service,
Appalachian National Scenic Trail
As part of the land acquisition effort of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail
Field Office, we provided centerline, corridor boundary, and
tract boundary surveys in Maine and New Hampshire.
In all, we ran 300 miles of
traverses, blazed, painted and signed over 300 miles of boundary line, and set
about 2,000 monuments. Each project was completed
for the contracted amount and within the permitted time, with extensions being
granted in some instances to compensate for prolonged periods of rain or snow.
A professional land surveyor participated in and/or oversaw every facet of the work,
including project
planning, research at town, county and state offices, field reconnaissance,
traverse observations and adjustments, boundary line determination, line
marking, monumenting, platting and monthly reporting and billing to the National
Park Service.
Field parties of three to eight people worked from base camps situated
near the work sites. Our personnel, equipment and methods were proven under adverse conditions in areas reputed to be some of
the most difficult along the Appalachian Trail.
We gained significant experience in the design and adjustment
of large traverse networks with 600 stations and lines
ranging from 50 to 600 feet. The Park Service
required that traverses be run as near to boundary lines as possible and that
cutting be limited to trees under 3" in diameter.
To counteract extremely rugged terrain,
high winds, very dense forest cover and soggy/unstable ground conditions, we
integrated solar azimuth observations
into the traverse networks at regular intervals, and balanced field angles
between astronomic azimuths (converted to State Plane Grid azimuths). As a
result, we were consistently able to exceed the specified 1:5000
loop closure requirement, routinely achieving closure of between 1:10,000 and
1:20,000. Little re-observation of the
300+/- miles of traverses was necessary.
This project was submitted for and earned the Engineering in
Excellence Honor Award for 2001. (Client, US
Department of the Interior)
BERWICK TOWN LINE,
Town of Berwick, ME
Selectmen from the Town of Berwick contracted with us
to perform survey work of the town lines, as a complete perambulation of the municipal boundaries
was far overdue according to current Maine law.
As with any boundary retracement, we faced two
important questions - what boundaries were to be perambulated and where
they were located.
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What the boundaries were could only be answered
based on an investigation of the records of the towns of Berwick, South
Berwick, North Berwick, Sanford, Kittery and Lebanon. We also had to
search the
records at the Maine State Archives, Massachusetts State Archives, the
York County Registry of Deeds, the York County
Commissioners’ Office, and the Maine State Legislative Library.
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Where the boundaries exist was
answered by the physical location of monuments in the course of a field
survey conducted with a Global Positioning System receiver.
A proper survey of a town boundary is
a retracement of the original line defined by the legislative act or acts
which created the line. Monuments, which may exist, regardless of age or
origin, have no bearing on the correct location of a town boundary unless
the monuments can be shown, by historical documents and measurements, to
occupy positions on the legislatively created boundary. The presence of monuments with towns’ initials and ancient
dates scribed into them may indicate the correct location of a town
boundary, or they may simply memorialize past surveys and be near the actual town boundary.
The town decided to have us use a Global Positioning System receiver,
as this measuring system is less expensive and fulfills the minimum requirements for
survey precision. This approach is also allows future surveys to be
conducted with the results of our work and a similar receiver.
Our crew analyzed monuments and measurements in light
of historical data gathered during research and made boundary determinations.
We presented plans and a detailed report at a joint meeting of the
selectmen of the four towns.
The final phases of the project included identification
of buildings being taxed by the wrong towns and marking the boundaries.
(Client, Town of Berwick)
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
Columbia and Stratford Counties, NH
In the fall of 2000, we contracted
with The Nature Conservancy to perform a boundary survey and subdivision
of 18,000 acres of forestland located in Columbia and
Stratford, Coos County.
We recommended a variety of measurement
technologies due to a tight performance schedule (with the coming of
winter) and the extensive
scope of work (about 70 miles
of boundaries).
Terrestrial traversing with an electronic total
station, mapping grade GPS (sub-meter accuracy) and precise GPS methods
were employed where appropriate to precision needs.
We surveyed the perimeter of the
existing parcel which was largely evidenced by existing, long maintained,
blazed lines and wood stake and stone pile corner markers. Access was primarily by foot.
The perimeter was surveyed by making dual observations at each corner, 200
epochs of data per observation. The majority of the interior lines were first
protracted for subdivision approval and later blazed and monumented. In
all, 65 monuments were set and 18 miles of interior lines marked.
Our surveyors performed research on the
locus parcel and 80 abutting properties at the
Coos County Registry of Deeds, the Registry of Probate, the two municipal
offices, the state archives and library and private survey records. (Client,
The Nature Conservancy)