Welcome to March 2024, where Pi Day, National Surveyors Week, and the Western Regional Surveying Conference happen all at once. You can boast about your chosen profession, get your continuing education credits, and eat pie, all within 12 days of each other.
 
This week is National Surveyors Week. I was in Sacramento yesterday with Ric Moore from the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists, and CLSA’s Legislative Advocate, Mike Belote and Kim Oreno from the Central Office for a proclamation at the Capitol, sponsored by Assemblywoman Esmerelda Soria. Many thanks to Mr. Belote for coordinating the proclamation with Assemblywoman Soria’s office and continually promoting the profession in Sacramento
 
The Western Regional Survey Conference (http://plseducation.org/) will be in Las Vegas on March 23-26, 2024. It looks to be a great Conference and a large turnout. This year’s Conference is being sponsored by the State Associations from Arizona (APLS), California (CLSA), Nevada (NALS), New Mexico (NMPS), Wyoming (PLSW), and the Western Federation of Professional Surveyors (WFPS). It is expected that surveyors from most of the western States will be in attendance.
 
I always look forward to the Conference. I always learn something. Sometimes I learn something new; sometimes I re-learn something I’d forgotten (which happens more than I’d like to admit). I always enjoy seeing old friends and meeting new ones. I hope to see you there. If you see me, please stop and say Hi.
 
And Pi Day (3/14) was last week. An excuse for anyone with a math-geek streak or regular pie fan to celebrate, because...well…pie.
 
Celebrate responsibly. ??
 
If you, as a Chapter Officer, Director, or member, have questions about anything related to the Association, please contact the Executive Committee.
 
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Contact me: Ca.PLS8200@gmail.com or 559-451-7112.
 
 
Kevin Nehring
 

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth District has upheld the District Court for the Eastern District of California’s granting of BPELSG’s motion to dismiss Crownholm’s appeal from his citation by the Board for unlicensed practice of land surveying.

In a Memorandum issued March 7, the Court of Appeals analyzed Crownholm’s arguments and determined that they were insufficient to overturn the District Court’s ruling.

Crownholm’s appeal from the Board citation was filed in federal court under the guise of protection of freedom of speech under the First Amendment. The District Court held that, while speech is protected, actions contrary to California’s regulatory scheme are not.

The February "Where in CA is This?” was of course the view looking northwesterly towards the San Elijo Lagoon river mouth provided by Rick Coffman, PLS, President of Coffman Land in San Diego.

There were several winners, some based on local knowledge.

Seth M. Doherty, PLS 9183, of Latitude Surveying in Ventura recognized the San Elijo lagoon river mouth and "a fantastic surf spot!"

Second to answer was Andrew LaBine, PLS, of Praxis Land Surveying in Fresno who said, "This photo was taken in the approximate position shown on the attached kmz (Lat: 33° 0'57.44"N, Lon: 117°16'47.62"W). Closest streets are San Elijo Ave and Dublin Dr. between San Elijo State Beach and Cardiff State Beach.” He followed-up with his method, "I know the CA coastline pretty well from about San Onofre up to the bay area. Based on the palm trees I knew it was southern CA, and wherever the photo was taken, the road the surveyor is on runs roughly parallel with Hwy 101 or Hwy 1. So, my first thought was Ventura. I had a particular spot in mind on the north side of Ventura but after consulting Google Earth I decided that wasn’t quite right. My next thought was some place south of Dana Point, as I have been to some San Diego beaches but I am not super familiar with them. There is obviously some sort of creek outlet there, so starting in San Clemente, I worked my way south on google earth from creek outlet to creek outlet. I saw a lifeguard tower at San Elijo State Beach and thought that must be the structure in the background, and the railroad and street run parallel to Hwy 1, so I tried street view there. Low and behold, that is the place. So it was sort of luck, with a couple basic observations about the creek, structure, and highway orientation.”

Steve Martin chimed in with a correct answer saying, "The Tower looked familiar.” Former photo identifier Bill Tuck, PLS said, "This month’s 'where is this' is next to guy pole P1995169 at the intersection of Dublin and San Elijo, in Cardiff, looking out at Cardiff Reef. I know the area well, but I got the pole number from Google Street View.”

Andy Karydes, PLS of Cardiff said, "I happen to drive by this beach at least once a day, Cardiff State Beach/San Elijo Campground in Cardiff. The photo was taken on San Elijo Avenue overlooking the train tracks.”

Try to identify the location of this month’s photo OUTSIDE of California. Please tell me how you identified the location. Submit answers to: Rob McMillan

If you have not already renewed your CLSA membership, please do so now and be sure to invite others to join our great organization. Your membership supports CLSA’s efforts to protect, enhance and grow the land surveying profession. Members receive free monthly webinars, discounts to the annual conference and from our affinity partner organizations, as well as membership in the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) for representation and advocacy at the national level.

The CLSA Education Foundation is holding a Saturday night bowling at the CLSA-NALS Conference this year. Join the fun and buy a gutter ball for the tem in the lead. This CLSA Education Foundation fundraiser will help fund future scholarships.

California’s Citizen Geodesist Philip Melcher reminds us that although "the opportunity to submit observations to NGS’ NAPGD2022 campaign has passed on Feb 29th, you can submit GPS on BMs. There are still hundreds of thousands of bench marks across the US that have never been observed by GPS. These old marks might be passé, but sharing solutions isn’t. You can still share your solutions to NGS or submit recoveries wherever you find one.

Almost 59,917 marks (Ed. I think Philip did 10,000 of these) were shared on existing NGS marks and 16,393 non-NGS marks to the IDB to date since the program started. I highly encourage you to keep sharing your solutions as I believe David C. Garcelon mentioned in the context of boundary surveys that resurveys brings history to the front.” 

Michael Walle, PLS, Principal Partner at Denn Engineers had some help celebrating National Surveyors week from the next generation of surveyors. This iron pipe and tag is at the radius point of a cul de sac and it just so happens to fall in the middle of a sandbox. When the kids saw all of the equipment and asked me what I was doing, I simply explained that I was a pirate looking for treasure. They immediately grabbed their shovels and helped. When we found the point they were so excited they started looking for the next one. I told them you can't dig for treasure without a map, so I gave them a tie sheet and we looked together for the next point. I had so much fun. The parents were ecstatic to have some additional entertainment as well. I will never know if these little moments will sprout seeds of interest in these kiddos but I do know that patience and kindness is something the world needs more of. Surveyors can be role models too.

Welcome to the K W family, Kelly! As our new Lead Land Surveyor and Associate, Kelly brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table. Excited to see how his leadership will shape the future of our surveying projects. Here's to a successful journey ahead!

Mark Sheahan, PLS, has promoted to the position of Chief of the Clatrans HQ Office of Land Surveys. Mark has had a long career in land surveying and a history of leadership. We wish him well in this next chapter.

Sergio has worked for two County Surveyors and Caltrans Districts 11 and 7 prior to joining the HQ Office of Land Surveys. He is a great team player, and will foster cooperation and teamwork in his new role.