Understanding Townships

This entry focuses on a part of our earlier discussion, Understanding Location Data. For greater context on what we will be addressing, please read that post first. One of the more confusing aspects of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is the concept of “townships.” A “township” can refer to two different things. Both are part of…

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Small Scale Mine Owners To Loose Fee Exemption And Other Surprises In The Proposed 2016 BLM Budget

New challenges could be in the works for prospectors on Bureau of Land Management claims. Yesterday, February 2, 2015, The BLM posted the Obama Administration’s proposed 2016 budget for the Bureau of Land Management. While the press release highlights conservation and renewable energy priorities, nestled deep in the budget are some unpleasant surprises for miners…

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Understanding Location Data

Claims handled by the Bureau of Land Management are not mapped by latitude and longitude, as many maps now use.  Instead, many of these claims harken back to an older form of surveying called the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), a  measurement system that may seem confusing to the uninitiated, but was a great step forward…

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