While the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) scope and presence spans across the country, its main offices are found in Washington DC. There, a grand building has been the hub of public land management since its construction was completed in 1936. Along with offices, the building houses a museum and an extensive collection of murals…
We receive lots of emails from people who find their name or a relative’s name on our site and want to know if this means they have some right to the land listed under that name. The short answer is, “if you have to ask, then probably not” but the complete answer deserves the time…
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…
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…
We are excited to have launched the Drillings! There is a lot of oil and gas drilling that occurs across the US. While much of this is occurring on public lands, few people are able to discover the “who,” “what,” and “where” of public oil drilling claims. While this is a matter of public record, we…
