National Surveyors Week is Coming Up

By: Frank Lenik, NSPS The theme for this year’s National Surveyors Week is communication.  A few years ago, then NSPS vice-president Cavell placed National Surveyors Week under the charge of the publicity committee, understanding then that the purpose of NSW is to get the word out. That the land surveying profession is vital to a stable democracy where land ownership is the basis for most family wealth accumulation. He never directed how it should be done, only that it become a part of the bigger picture of how the National Society of Surveyors engage with our constituents and the public. There are many ways to address surveyors in general and the public and we have continued in those tried and true veins. NSPS is again working with NOAA and the National Geodetic Survey on how to improve the geoid models for elevation so we can move towards better elevations from our instruments and migrate our data, both vertical and horizontal in 2022. This is a call for more GPS on Benchmark observations. We have done this for years but it is still an important educational tool for surveyors and the public. Many of you are already alerting the public and political entities in our regions through displays, news articles and proclamations. But there is more work to be done. I often hear surveyors lament about how GIS has negatively affected our profession. This is a misunderstanding of the problem caused by a misreading of the symptoms. GIS was perhaps the second major event caused by the democratization of technology in our field. The hand-held calculator was probably the first but I expect this will cause many discussions (steel tape, edm, etc). The development of hand held computing devices coupled with GNSS antennas has placed the ability to locate oneself on the earth at everyone’s finger tips. Everyone now has an answer, but few know where it comes from or how it was determined. This is an opportunity for the National Society of Professional Surveyors, and every state society to stake our claim as the experts in mapping points on the Earth. We can do that by opening our umbrella a little wider and reaching out to all those organizations who are using mapping tools in their work. This means departments of transportation, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the United States Geological Survey, the Department of the Interior, universities and technical schools, construction companies, geographic information systems purveyors, drone operators and others who may possess the tools but not the understanding of accuracy and precision. It should be an educational effort not a prescriptive effort, using our knowledge as doorway to attract new members and perhaps even new customers. This is a call to arms that each one of you speak with, call, write or email someone in your circle and invite them to participate in National Surveyors Week. Remember that we are following in the footsteps of your forebears, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and so many others. Rise to the challenge and make a difference.

Each year, PLSO awards scholarships to individuals pursuing a land surveying career, including those community college applicants who intend to transfer to eligible four-year college or will complete a degree leading to land surveying at the community college level. 

Application deadline is March 1st!

NSPS Scholarship Deadline January 15th!

Each year, through the National Society of Professional Surveyors Foundation, over $30,000 dollars in scholarships funded by a variety of individuals, companies, and organizations are made available to encourage and support college education in geospatial sciences. These scholarships are a great opportunity for college students in surveying, mapping, geographic information systems, and geodetic science programs. The application deadline is January 15, 2018.

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PLSO Announces New Rebranding Partnership PLSO is excited to announce its new partnership with creative services firm Pivot Group. Pivot is a Portland-based customer engagement company that specializes in telling their clients stories in a compelling way. And that is exactly what PLSO wants to do. Tell our story to the professional community, public and future workforce. PLSO's ultimate goals during this process are: 1.     Increase the public awareness of the importance of the surveying profession and promoting the image of the profession. 2.     Increase the number of young people coming into the profession. 3.     Make PLSO an easily recognizable organization to the public, Oregon legislature, and partner professions. 4.     Make PLSO relevant to Oregon surveyors and increase membership by giving a clear message about who we are and our value to professionals. With over half of their clients being non-profits, Pivot Group understands the unique culture PLSO brings to the table. The firm has dedicated staff members working in tandem on non-profit accounts, ensuring they are immersed in the language, trends, challenges, and opportunities unique to the non-profit world. Most recently, they have won national awards for their work, including projects recognized by American Marketing, MUSE, How Magazine, Print Magazine, and Graphis. The planning, approval and selection process went through multiple discussions at the PLSO State Board level prior to creating a member driven task force to work exclusively on the project. This summer the group selected three firms to interview from a larger pool that had responded to an RFP and unanimously voted on Pivot Group before sending it to the State Board for approval. Minutes of the State Board meetings are all kept online in the Membership Resource tab of Members Only section.

NSPS Radio Hour — April 10 at 11 a.m. EST

NSPS 
After a couple of unavoidable postponements for his appearance, Scott Fein (PLS, CWRE, CFedS) will join host Curt Sumner to discuss the far reaches of surveying in the modern world, beyond making maps and marking lines/corners. Scott is the County Surveyor for Jackson County, OR. He says that marijuana legalization has brought the need and desire to know who's is what and where it is to a new level in Southern Oregon. State law regulating the new legal crop points directly to platting statutes which have a multitude of related land use implications. To listen to archives of previous shows, visit americaswebradio.com/nsps-radio-hour. Archives for each show are typically available for listening within a few days after the show airs. Also check out this cool video created for the NSPS Radio Hour by GeoLearn: https://youtu.be/cwRjmfXE2Zw. 

Surveying Mentorships: From Prospects to Veterans

When a surveyor retires, a wealth of knowledge goes with them. Mix that reality with the fact that there is not necessarily a sufficient stream of incoming surveyors to replace their aging predecessors and it becomes clear that action must be taken. One way to address the issue is through mentorship.

Lee Spurgeon, LS, is the chairman of the Educational Goals and Outreach Committee for the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon (PLSO). The land surveyor of 40 years oversees the group’s mentoring program and says mentorship in the surveying profession is really important. “The average age of a surveyor in Oregon, I think, is 56 years old, which means we’re all going to retire in the next eight or nine years. So we need to find replacements or we might end up with things like a paralegal — a para-surveyor,” he says. “Institutional knowledge is lost when the old-timers retire, so mentoring will be able to pass that information on and just have a much more informed profession so everyone can do a better job of retracing those original monuments.”

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The Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering & Land Surveying (OSBEELS) is holding a Board meeting on Tuesday, March 14, 2017. The meeting will convene at 9:00 a.m. Interested parties are encouraged to attend. Please see the attached meeting notice and agenda for more information.

Additional information about OSBEELS can be found at:  http://www.oregon.gov/OSBEELS/pages/index.aspx.

Please direct any questions about the upcoming meeting to the Board office.

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9:00 a.m. – CALL BOARD MEETING TO ORDER1

1. ROLL CALL

2. PUBLIC INPUT

3. NCEES Presentation – Brian Hanson, NCEES WZ Vice President

4. BOARD CONSENT AGENDA

A. Approval of the March 14, 2017 Agenda

B. Approval of January 10, 2017 Board meeting minutes

C. Approval of January 19, 2017 Special Board meeting minutes

D. Approval of February 9, 2017 Law Enforcement Committee meeting minutes

E. Approval of February 10, 2017 committee meeting minutes

F. Registration Approval List

G. LEC Final Orders

i. Case #2887 – Comfort Flow Heating Default Final Order

ii. Case #3023 – Karr Default Final Order

iii. Case #3024 – Uzman Default Final Order

5. ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT – Mari Lopez

6. PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Jason Kent

7. EXAMINATIONS AND QUALIFICATIONS COMMITTEE – Shelly Duquette

A. OAR 820-010-4000

B. Engineering experience gained under supervision of a PLS [ORS 672.005(1)(c), (d), (e)]

C. EQC Denial Recommendation - Kloehn, Kurt

D. Lentz, Gordon – Proposed Order

E. Leshchinsky, Ora – Proposed Order

8. OREGON SPECIFIC EXAMINATION TASK FORCE – Oscar Zuniga

Schroeder Measurement Technologies, Inc. (SMT) update

9. EXTERNAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE – Amin Wahab

A. Surveyor registration record search / PLSO

B. 2017 Symposium update

C. Oregon Examiner Articles

i. May Board meeting to be held at OSU

ii. Upcoming legislative session and professional organization involvement

iii. 2017 Symposium introduction

iv. Board members wanted

v. Farewell to Ron Singh

vi. Investigation and Enforcement

vii. Preparing for retirement

viii. Social Security number reminder for license renewal

ix. What types of courses meet PDH requirements

D. Website update – Keith Van Norman

10. FINANCE COMMITTEE – Jason Kent

A. 2017 – 2019 Budget / OAR 820-080-1000

B. Review of financial information

11. LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMITTEE – Bill Boyd

A. Case #2964 – Camp, Jack

B. Case #3017 – Yang, GuiJang

C. Case #2989 – Hupy, Brad

D. Case #2925 – Smith, Joel

12. PHOTOGRAMMETRIC AND REMOTE SENSING TASK FORCE – Chris Aldridge

UAS and Land Surveying Regulations Brochure

13. CUSTOMER SERVICE AND COMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS TASK FORCE – Jason Kent

Draft Policy

14. LEGISLATIVE

A. Legislative Committee membership

B. HB 2935 (Sponsored by Representative Boone)

a. PEO Draft Language

b. SB 885 (Sponsored by Senator Roblan)

C. HB 3168 (Sponsored by Committee on Business and Labor)

15. UNFINISHED BUSINESS

A. Discussion of PDH requirements

B. Discussion on Academic Experience

16. NEW BUSINESS

A. Nominating Committee

B. GIS in Action Conference / Presentation on PRSTF

17. LEGAL BRIEFING – Katharine Lozano

Property Line Adjustments

18. BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS

19. NEXT MEETINGS

May 9, 2017 at Oregon State University (OSU)

It’s not breaking news that the annual number of retiring surveyors far exceeds the number of those entering the surveying profession. It’s up to us to reverse this trend. One of the best ways to do that is to introduce the newest generation to the surveying profession. Show them how interesting your job is and how it relates to their local community

Help PLSO, NSPS and NCEES get the word out! Check out the tool kit designed to help you promote the profession here.

A “live” link to the GPS on Bench Marks activity mentioned in Section 3 of the kit is found here.

Other great suggestions that some state societies and individual NSPS members are doing include: Geocaching activities, Survey Day in Mall, request to speak to a local civic club (Elks, Grange, Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary, Ruritan, VFW, etc.), Professional Organization (Realtors/Attorneys/Bankers/Title Agents/etc.), or Teachers organization (School Counselors, Teachers of Math and Science, etc.)

COOS BAY — National Engineers Week is Feb. 19–25, and the local chapter of Professional Engineers of Oregon and Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon have coordinated an exhibition program involving high school students from Coos, Curry, and Douglas counties, as well as students from Southwestern Oregon Community College. The exhibition will take place from 4:30-8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, at Southwestern Oregon Community College, 1988 Newmark Ave., Coos Bay. A buffet dinner will follow the program. The buffet will cost $15 per person; students will eat for free.

Engineers Week is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding and interest in engineering and technology careers among young students, and by promoting pre-college literacy in math and science.

March 15: Oregon Coordinate Reference System Workshop

• 7:00 AM - 4:30 PM
• Umpqua Community College

Click for More Info and Registration