Featured Projects

The Problem:

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, offered incentives to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners interested in placing wetlands, agricultural land, grasslands, and forests under long-term easements. In Nevada, NRCS was looking for a surveyor to assist with land surveying services for selected easement purchases through the Grasslands Reserve Program and the Wetland Reserve Program, as well as for easements aimed at protecting sage grouse, which was recently listed as a threatened and endangered species. Managing these programs in rural Nevada posed unique surveying challenges, as many ranches were remote and had not previously required boundary surveys.

​

The Solution:

Selected as NRCS Surveyor for the State of Nevada, the primary functions were to coordinate with the private landowners and NRCS to survey acreages of the ranches, placement of easement signs and corners to identify the location of the easements, calculation of acreages for easements, and preparation of legal descriptions and exhibits. Through the retracement of historic surveys and records, surveyors located and identified historic boundary markers, often comprised of a pile of rocks or a fence post, to obtain acreages for current easement acquisition.

​

The Results:

Under the five-year contract, surveyors assisted NRCS with land surveying services for selected easement purchases. As a result, numerous surveys were conducted statewide, resulting in the preservation of thousands of acres of habitat.