PLSO The Oregon Surveyor January/February 2020

13 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org 2020 Annual Conference: Award Winners Jered McGrath is pretty much the absolute definition of the Brush Cutter Award. He literally keeps going and going and go- ing, never letting PLSO down when it comes to managing the programming of the Annual Conference each year. Planning a conference takes a lot of time because there are so many mov- ing parts. It often feels like a treadmill—putting one “fire” out, only to confront another. Jered McGrath has consistently been an instrumental part of the conference effort each year for around 8 years, and he has recently taken charge of the PLSO Conference planning effort. He also takes the reigns in educa- tional programming. This not only requires planning, but the need to think on your feet when a speaker cancels last minute or shows up late. He has spent long hours printing the Program of Events when there was no budget for it. Chuck Whitten’s article emphasizes the importance of diligence when monument hunting. Not only did he draw upon his per- sonal experiences, in this article he also illustrates the clever thought process he uses. In addition, he demonstrates the importance of resourcefulness and ingenuity, as essential sur- veyor skills, which enabled him to locate monuments that had been missed by others. These are core surveyor skills, which are readily lost if one generation fails to pass them on to the next generation, so we especially appreciate Chuck’s willingness to invest his wonderful knowledge in support of each new gener- ation of students. The Brush Cutter Award Jered McGrath, PLS Article of the Year Chuck Whitten, PLS “Improbable Corners I Have Come to Know”