CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED The California Surveyor ... - CLSA

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After graduation, I could not land a job in my field right away,
so I went to work for a lumber company in Brattleboro, Vermont
and became a ripsaw operator in their gunstock factory. As luck
would have it, the lumber company had a surveying and engineering
division to measure and manage all of their many timber
resources. One day, on my lunch hour, I went over to that building,
and dropped off my resume. A few days later a representative of the
engineering company came over to get me for an interview. Thus
began my professional career in the field of land surveying in 1975,
working under the direct supervision of Addison Minott, Vermont
Registered Land Surveyor No. 2. Under his tutelage at this fairly
small company, Southern Vermont Engineering, I was exposed to
the full gamut of office and field tasks in the (then modern) world
of surveying, often working on snowshoes in the winter, using the
first EDM equipment on the market (which was in a very large suitcase),
using old IBM computers with skinny magnetic cards
(remember those?) and doing record research (pouring through the
hand-written texts of the first land records in a tiny back room in
small towns like Athens, Vermont). I worked for Addison for about
seven years until I decided to head West. I have worked in Nevada
and California ever since for various land surveying and/or land
surveying and engineering companies, gaining the responsible
charge and experience to necessary sit for and earn my LSIT and
PLS licenses. I began my own company, Pacific Land Surveys,
located in Bodega, California, in September of 1995.
Having been involved in many different types of projects over
the course of my career, I would have to say that boundary retracement
and riparian boundaries are two areas that I find to be the most
interesting and challenging. A favorite project of mine that Pacific
Land Surveys worked on for three years running was a salmon
habitat restoration project on Lagunitas Creek in Marin County. We
contracted with a group of environmentalists and hydrologists to
run transects (cross-sections to most surveyors) of six miles of the
creek in six locations at the same time each year so that our survey
data could be studied to evaluate streambed sedimentation and used
to come up with a scientific plan for habitat improvement. All study
sites were connected by a geodetic control traverse. As with other
environmental riparian projects we have done, we had to perform
much of our work fully suited up in chest waders (much needed!),
which actually is fairly easy to do in the water, but not quite as
40
comfortable to wear climbing up steep, brushy
creek banks, fighting through stinging nettles
and poison oak. (Lots of falling and swearing
was going on!) The silver lining for me is that
our data was actually used as an integral part of
the implementation of a current plan to help preserve
this wonderful species of fish.
During my career, I have been privileged to
work with, been mentored by, and have sought
the professional counsel of some of the most
interesting and best people in the field, such as
Dennis Mouland of Cadastral Consultants and
(the late) Roy Minnick. I hope that I have been
able to impart some of the things I have learned
to some of the many young people I have mentored,
some of whom have also been able to
teach me a thing or two.
After many years in the profession one of the most important
things I have learned, and one of the main reasons I still love surveying,
is that there is always something new to learn, and always
more to learn about some topic that you thought you already knew.
It certainly keeps you humble! I am however, bothered by the fact
that when I was in my twenties
and thirties and attended surveying
conferences, many of the folks
were my age; and what I see now
is that most of them are my age
and not too many younger. We
need young people!
That being said I would definitely
encourage all young people,
and especially young women, to
pursue a career in land surveying.
It is a profession that keeps body
and mind in fit condition and has
so much intrinsic variety within it.
The field and office technology
has continued to morph in leaps
and bounds since I began, and that
is not likely to change. As I have
stated, there is always something
new to learn, be it in the legal,
technical or retracement arenas,
and many gifted teachers to learn
from. My advice to young people
today would be to study the earth
sciences, take all the math and science
courses that you can, as well
as some law, because, in my opinion,
therein lies the future. You
may just find that a career in land
surveying is the right path for you.
Surveying has fed my soul for many years with physical exercise,
mental stimulation, the artistic expression of map making, and
keeps me connected to my youth in the beautiful Adirondack
Mountains. ❖
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