Women in Surveying........................pg 14 Global Surveyor of the Year............pg 24 The Oregon May/June 2022 A publication of the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon
Editorials From the PLSO Chair, by Jeremy Sherer, PLS 2 From the PLSO Office, by Aimee McAuliffe, PLSO Executive Secretary 4 From the Publications Committee, by Tim Kent, PLS 6 From the PLSO State Lobbyist, by Darrell W. Fuller 8 Featured Articles How Did You Become a Land Surveyor? 9 The Long Way Around, Part I, by Mike Fallert, PLS 11 Women in Surveying, by Renee Clough, PLS, PE, AICP 14 Marked: Adventures of a Woman Land Surveyor in the Pacific Northwest, by Renee Clough, PLS, PE, AICP 15 PLSO Auction Recap and Future Plans, by Gary Johnston, PLS, PLSO Auction Committee Chair 17 An Ode to Gary Johnston, by Aimee McAuliffe, PLSO Executive Secretary 17 A Land Surveyor’s Limerick, by Dick Bryant, LS 920 (ret) 22 Columns Member Spotlight, by Vanessa Salvia 18 The Lost Surveyor, by Pat Gaylord, PLS 24 On the Cover A follow-up to the March/April 2022 cover photo. This is Russel Dodge, who took the photo, analyzing some of the collected data from the Trimble X7 while inside PGE's Oak Grove Hydroelectric Project flowline pipe. This pipe is 9 feet in diameter and diverts part of the Clackamas River to provide electricity to the Portland Metro area. The pipe was de-watered after the Labor Day fires of 2020 due to extensive damages to the controlling facilities. This gave the team the opportunity to traverse into and through the pipe and collect data on damages that have happened in previous years. This particular section has been deformed by a landslide. It should be noted, all safety precautions were taken to enter the pipe. The Oregon Surveyor is a publication of the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon (PLSO). It is provided as a medium for the expression of individual opinions concerning topics relating to the Land Surveying profession. Address changes & business All notifications for changes of address, membership inquiries, and PLSO business correspondence should be directed to Aimee McAuliffe, PO Box 230548, Tigard, OR 97281; 503-303-1472; [email protected]. Editorial matters & contributions of material The Oregon Surveyor welcomes your articles, comments, and photos for publication. PLSO assumes no responsibility for statements expressed in this publication. Editorial matters should be directed to Vanessa Salvia, [email protected]. Advertising policy Advertising content and materials are subject to approval of the PLSO Board and LLM Publications. The publisher reserves the right to reject any advertising that simulates copy; material must be clearly marked as “Advertisement.” For advertising, contact: Ronnie Jacko, [email protected]; 503-445-2234, 800-647-1511 x2234. A publication of the Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon Executive Secretary Aimee McAuliffe PO Box 230548 Tigard, OR 97281 503-303-1472 Toll-free: 844-284-5496 [email protected] www.plso.org Published by LLM Publications 503-445-2220 • 800-647-1511 www.llmpubs.com Advertising Ronnie Jacko, [email protected] Design Jon Cannon © 2022 LLM Publications Editor Vanessa Salvia Publications Committee Tim Kent, Interim Chair Pat Gaylord Samantha Tanner Contents Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon @ORLandSurveyors The Oregon Vol. 45, No. 3 May/June 2022
2 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 3 From the PLSO Chair MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Passover Mentorship The Passover Seder is an important part of the Jewish identity. A central theme is the retelling of the Passover story, which remembers our ancestors’ journey from slavery to freedom. It is an important educational tool in many Jewish households, including mine, because it provides a clear and scripture-commanded way to educate our children. In our home, our children begin by asking my wife and I four questions. We start by lauding them for asking the questions and then answer each question through participation, discussion, and debate and by exciting their sense of taste, smell, hearing, sight, and sound. The observance of the Passover occurs in the home, not in a synagogue, and it requires direct involvement and communication from the parents to the children. This is very similar to the process of being a good mentor, which PLSO needs more of. Like the duty to tell the story, PLSO's mission is to promote our profession through education. A liberal education emphasizes moral character, virtue, and responsible citizenship, necessary for human flourishing and living in a free society. These principles form the foundation of excellence and the idea of a “good surveyor.” One of the best ways to learn these principles and how it relates to land surveying is through mentorship. The goal of mentorship is to educate the student through participation, discussion, and debate. Young surveyors learn by asking questions and having sensory experiences, and they need good examples. The mentor leads by example to help the mentee discover excellence and the idea of a “good surveyor.” Our mission implies that PLSOmembers contribute to the profession's growth by bringing up surveyors toward excellence and the idea of a “good surveyor.” The study of surveying in geomatics will provide the technical and problem-solving skills needed to become a licensed surveyor. Licensure is a means to an end; the end is excellence in being a “good surveyor.” The Rising Generation can find meaning and purpose in the idea of a “good surveyor” when they discover that it is a role based on the principles of a free society. PLSO must tell the story of surveying and its relationship to the American ideals of liberty and civil society. Learning the science of survey through a geomatic education can be done through formal institutions or self-study. But instruction on excellence and the idea of a “good surveyor” is best done by mentors at the chapter level. The Ruling Generation of surveyors (50+) must tell the story of surveying. Younger surveyors need your time and attention. Our society needs future surveyors who have mastered the art and science of surveying, are honest, objective, and have the virtues required to maintain a stable and just cadastral system. Mentoring is a shared responsibility and has no room for self-promotion. Ronald Reagan once said, “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit.” Like Moses’ name, it is missing from the Passover story. The good to be done includes instilling excellence and developing a “good surveyor,” not promoting one’s ego. Don't let this opportunity pass over you. You can help by volunteering to join the Practices Committee in developing a mentorship program for Emerging Leaders. The program is chapter-centered and overseen by the chapter president. Learning objectives will include understanding the past, present, and future of surveying. It focuses on leadership and the soft skills that develop and equip the rising generation to become “good surveyors.” If you are interested in joining this team, please get in touch with our office or the Chair at 541-517-8205. Jeremy Sherer, PLS PLSO Board Chair Our society needs future surveyors who have mastered the art and science of surveying, are honest, objective, and have the virtues required to maintain a stable and just cadastral system.
3 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org
4 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 3 From the PLSO Office Aimee McAuliffe, PLSO Exec. Secretary GROWTH AND RENEWAL Spring brings the promise of growth and renewal. It is an important equinox that provides longer days and the pull toward tackling new projects. For Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon that will look like finding opportunities to promote the profession to high school students, leadership curriculum, scholarship awards, and membership renewals. I am happy to thank everyone who purchased raffle tickets and bid on auction items for the Education & Outreach Auction. Thanks to all of you, PLSO raised a net total of $27,113.53! At the March board meeting, the Board of Directors discussed the outcome and voted on assigning money that was not pre- designated to scholarship funds. Here's the overall outlook: • Scholarships: $9,933.24 • Outreach: $17,180.29 As a reminder, annual scholarships are rewarded each year from the dividends of the PLSO Oregon Community Fund Foundation account. Each March, PLSO receives a statement detailing how much money is in the PLSO account and the dividends yielded to be awarded by June. PLSO has the option to donate money for the current year to increase the amount of scholarship funds. For the 2022 year, dividends total $13,228. The board granted the Scholarship Committee’s request to award $18,000 as in previous years. Therefore, from the $9,933.24 raised for scholarships at the auction, $4,772 will go towards 2022 scholarships and the From the back, top: Trevor Gwin, McKenna Hein, Ben Hobert, Wyatt Keady (orange shirt), Jamie Blankenship (middle), Macy Hagel (brown beanie), Max Dzul next to her (black ball cap), Jeff Maloney (front left), and Ethan Chirnside (front right). Photo courtesy of Jamie Blankenship. I am happy to thank everyone who purchased raffle tickets and bid on auction items for the Education & Outreach Auction. Thanks to all of you, PLSO raised a net total of $27,113.53!
5 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org From the PLSO Office remaining $5,161.24 will be deposited into the foundation account. The board will decide upon how outreach funding should be spent at a later meeting. PLSO is also still currently selling its t-shirts to raise funding for direct marketing the surveying profession to high schools. This may include streaming ads through appropriate social media channels for students, as well as informational programming intended for career centers and guidance counselors. T-shirts are $15 and may be found at plso.org/store. Half of proceeds go towards these projects and the other half covers expenses. Jeremy Sherer still wants to get the PLSO Leadership Academy off the ground but needs a task force to help build curriculum. If you remember, in January, I said that if people don’t volunteer for projects, they won’t happen. This is one of those projects. The purpose of the Leadership Academy is to teach leadership qualities and skills that may transfer into PLSO volunteer leadership as well as assisting members in their career. It would be a benefit to individual members as well as the companies that employ them. Please consider lending your own experience and time (nomatter how small) tomake the project work for all of us. Contact Jeremy at jeremy.a.sherer@ gmail.com for more information. As a reminder, themembership year runs July 1–June 30 each year. Unless you have renewed already through 2023, everyone will need to update their membership by July. While you are logged into plso.org and have your profile open, be sure to make sure you have it all updated to work for you. Things to verify: • Is your address, phone, and email set correctly? • If you changed companies this past year, have you made sure to list your new company? • Do you have the right chapter selected to receive communication from them regarding meetings and activities? • PLSO has two directories. Everyone is included in the member directory, located in the Members Only section of the website. If you want to be found and contacted by the public then you need to make sure you have the “yes” box checked under “Included in Public Find a Surveyor Directory?” • For those listed in the Find a Surveyor directory, do you have the proper “Searchable Services” boxes checked and the proper counties selected that you will work in? Not only do searching for surveyors use this feature to contact you, but I use it when people call in and ask for surveyor help and recommendations. As you can see, we have an exciting spring that will lead into the 2022–2023 membership year. I look forward to seeing you all continue to be involved in our community!
6 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 3 From the Publications Committee Tim Kent, PLS FIELDNOTES FROM THE PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE When we join our survey technicians and professional land surveyors at meetings and conferences, the best stories are told, acquaintances are renewed, and new friendships are made. We are all familiar with our chapter meetings and annual conferences, but here are a few more that are happening on the national scene that might be of interest to you. All of this information is taken from the respective websites. Women Surveyors Summit 2022 The Women Surveyors Summit is hosted by the Future Surveyors Foundation and is held to support and promote diversity in the land surveying profession. This in-person event is the 3rd Women Surveyors Summit. This is a “for women, by women” event and will include opportunities for continuing education. Networking, a panel discussion, and a seminar with breakouts are scheduled. Date: July 28–July 31 Location: Williamsburg, Virginia Information: https://futuresurveyors. org/women-surveyors-summit or info@ futuresurveyors.org Surveyors Historical Society Rendezvous 2022 Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, is a confluence of time and history. Not only do the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers come together here, but a few of the SHS Rendezvous have connections here as well. On March 16, 1803, Meriwether Lewis secured armaments and oversaw the construction of a frame for a 40-foot iron canoe for the Corps of Discovery mission. This endeavor was in search of a water route to the Pacific Coast as well as a scientific expedition, which yielded an abundance of new species but no direct water route to the Pacific as hoped. In July 2004, SHS held its Rendezvous in St. Joseph, Missouri, on the Surveying of Lewis and Clark. On October 16, 1859, John Brown attempts an insurrection at the National Amory in Harpers Ferry to arm slaves. This mission failed, John Brown and fellow comrades were hanged for treason and murder. In October 2016, SHS held its Rendezvous in Lake George, New York. An excursion to Lake Placid brought us to the downhill Olympic practice venue which is just over a half-mile from John Brown’s final resting place. I would venture to say we shared some of the same footsteps of this man while in this area. In September 2017, SHS held its Rendezvous in Boxborough, Massachusetts, studying Henry David Thoreau. Again, an area in which John Brown visited several times and impressed Mr. Thoreau, as history states. This is another area in which wemay have shared footsteps with John Brown. Date: September 21–23 Location: Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Information: www.surveyorshistorical society.com We are all familiar with our chapter meetings and annual conferences, but here are a few more that are happening on the national scene that might be of interest to you.
7 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org From the Publications Committee NSPS Spring Business Meeting 2023 This is where the national guidance for our profession happens. These meetings are chock-full of information concerning a variety of topics. Pat Gaylord is our NSPS representative. All of the committee reports and decisions are available on the NSPS website. I encourage you to review these and communicate with Pat of your concerns or support. As of this writing, the NSPS Student Competition is scheduled for this meeting. Discussions are scheduled whether to move this to the FIG meeting in May. Date: March 29–April 1 Location: Arlington, Virginia Information: www.nsps.us.com FIG Working Week 2023 The International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) is a United Nations- and World Bank-recognised non-governmental international professional organization. FIG was founded in 1878 and represents national associations of surveying, cadastre, valuation, national mapping professionals, geospatial experts, and quantity surveyors working in both the public and private sectors, in the scientific, research, and academic community, as well as from technology innovators and industry from more than 120 countries around the world. The overall theme is “Protecting Our World, Conquering New Frontiers,” which refers to the importance of looking ahead and discovering what will be needed in the future for our profession and at the same time make sure to preserve what works well today. The FIG Working Week 2023 gives passionate professionals the opportunity to: • Learn globally—with participation from around 80–90 countries • Learn across silos, from other countries, industries, and professional roles—with sessions and representation from the broad range of surveyors and geo Date: May 28–June 1 Location: Orlando, Florida Information: www.fig.net/fig2023 How to Send Us Your Work Please email the editor Vanessa Salvia with submissions. [email protected] Your submission should be in .doc format. Please send images separately (not embedded in the document) and at the highest file size available (MB size range versus KB size range—larger sizes are encouraged). Please include the author’s name and email address or phone number for contact.
8 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 3 Despite the ongoing (and nowmercifully winding down) pandemic, both professional land surveyors and members of Congress have been busy at work throughout. Once a year these two professions collide when surveyors travel to Washington, DC, for the NSPS Day on the Hill to lobby Congress on issues of significance to our profession. Few surveyors have traveled to Washington, DC, the last two years, and this year was no exception. Nevertheless, Oregon’s largest contingent of surveyors, representing all Oregon congressional districts, did sign up to connect with members of Congress via a number of Zoom meetings held on March 30. Oregon surveyors met with four of the seven offices comprised of Oregon’s two US Senators and five members in the House of Representatives. Many thanks to Jered McGrath, Gina Buckle, Scott Freshwaters, James Hepler, Brent Knapp, Dan Nelson, and John Putnam for their willingness to help out. During the meetings we focused on three issues: From the PLSO State Lobbyist issue summaries is the action requested or the “ask” made of each member of congress by NSPS. Led by Oregon’s NSPS Director, Pat Gaylord, the Zoom meetings were successful in creating several conversations which are ongoing. In 2018, similar meetings led to an in-person “show and tell” meeting with Congressman Kurt Schrader (D-OR05) where surveyors launched and recovered a drone and showed Mr. Schrader how surveying data, specifically LiDAR data, is collected and used in federal projects (see the July/ August 2019 Oregon Surveyor). In this case, it was an update to an interchange on Interstate 205. In response to an invitation made by Mr. Gaylord on behalf of PLSO and NSPS, Congressman Bentz’s office has reached out about scheduling a “show and tell” in central or eastern Oregon. Representative Bentz is a leading expert on water law in Congress, and has an interest in floodplain issues, water retention issues, and wildfire recovery and mitigation. Many of the worst fires in Oregon in recent years were in his sprawling district. Pat Gaylord reiterated to our group what has been said many times by NSPS Lobbyist J.B Byrd: “Members of Congress and state legislators have a huge and sometimes unintended impact on our profession. Not just because they write the standards for infrastructure spending, but because they can set the standards for how data is collected and used. It is incumbent on surveyors to build relationships with lawmakers and educate them about what we do. They need us for infrastructure spending to be done right, and we need them to understand the value we bring to the table. That comes from spending time together, building relationships, and ultimately building trust.” To that end, if successfully scheduled, this will be PLSO’s third meeting with Congressman Bentz and his staff and will build on our previously established relationship with Congressman Schrader. Darrell W. Fuller, PLSO State Lobbyist OREGON SURVEYORS VISIT CAPITOL HILL (SORTOF) 1. Educating Congress on the importance of ensuring state licensing for the profession during a period where some states are considering delicensing many occupations and professions. 2. Amending the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). PLSO and NSPS are requesting a specific amendment to ensure the federal government authorizes the development of a plan to provide the Army Corps with an adequate blended workforce. This would include in-house employees and contractors who have the expertise, experience, professional licensure, and knowledge to determine agency requirements and can apply technology, data, and services to management of Corps projects. 3. FEMA, NFIP, and Flood Insurance Mapping Reform. PLSO and NSPS are requesting, among other things, that Congress pass legislation making technical reforms to the flood maps to help make the program more solvent, increase accuracy, and provide an improved ability for FEMA to quantify risk and provide a more fair and equitable insurance premium program. To read detailed summaries of these three issues prepared by NSPS, go to the NSPS website (www.nsps.us.com) and look for the “Advocacy” drop down menu and select “Day on the Hill.” Included in the Led by Oregon’s NSPS Director, Pat Gaylord, the Zoom meetings were successful in creating several conversations which are ongoing.
9 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Featured Article HOW DID YOU BECOME A LAND SURVEYOR? During the conference earlier this year, we asked attendees the question about how they became a land surveyor. The answers, as we expected, were varied. This provides real evidence that surveyors become surveyors with a wide variety of experiences and backgrounds, and if we are to attract new surveyors to the profession, we need to cast a wide net to attract people from fields where you might not expect surveyors to come from. We hope you enjoy this round up of how we became surveyors. And if you didn’t participate in this informal poll, drop us a line and let us know how you became a land surveyor. Delenora Grey, PLS After a college degree in geology and a miserable experience as a first-year teacher in Hawaii, I found a 3-week course in field volcanology at UH-Hilo. One aspect was volcano deformation monitoring. We ran levels with 3-meter invar rods, shot EDMs, and set up tripods for GPS. I decided this was what I wanted to do, so I signed up for an MS program in volcanology at UA-Fairbanks, only to find out most volcanoes are monitored by satellite imagery, not on the ground. Meanwhile, I ran into students on campus with a total station on a tripod and asked how they got to do that, since it’s what I thought I’d signed up for. That led to my first two surveying classes (but not a changed major), followed several years later by an internship and AAS degree in geomatics that led to jobs as a surveyor and eventually to licensure. I still aspire to apply the boundary law principles we learn about at these conferences to real scenarios in the field. Joshua Evey, PLS In high school I had a teacher who told me engineering would be a tough degree to get and that I probably couldn’t do it, I wasn’t disciplined enough. I guess the best way to motivate me is to tell me I can’t do something. In college we were taught surveying and I was hooked on my first traverse with a staff compass and chain. After graduating from OSU, the job market for forest engineering tanked. My first boss started his own surveying business out of taking a reduction in force payout from an engineering job, so I joined him. I became a surveyor and have not looked back. Jason Martin, PLS I started off college as a civil major. The summer after my first year of college, I got a job surveying. I had such a great summer, I went back the next year and changed my major to surveying. I’ve never looked back! Michelle McBride, PLS I decided to go to college when the economy sank in the mid-2000s. I tossed out the medical half of Oregon Institute of Technology’s curriculum guide, reviewed continues
10 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 3 Featured Article the rest, and landed on surveying. The aspects that drew me were the outdoors, math, technology, problem solving, drafting/creating maps, and potential independence. It’s been almost five years now of being my own boss. Jason Page, PLS The program coordinator at Vincennes University, Bill Clark, answered the most important question I asked him with a “Yes!” I asked him, “Will I have a job when I graduate from this surveying program?” I was sold then (2002), and never looked back. Michael Chiniquy, Associate Member I was working as a security consultant after I got out of active-duty military. While I was working on a site, I saw some surveyors and thought to myself, that looks like more fun than what I’m doing, so I started talking to them to find out more. I found some training opportunities through the Air Force reserve and signed up. I’ve been doing surveying ever since. James Hibbs, PLS, WRE I got a job through a high school cooperative working with Douglas County public works in 1977. I loved the job and went on to Umpqua Community College and Oregon Institute of Technology. Landed in Medford in 1982, working for a local land surveyor and purchased the business from him in 2002. Clint Ward, PLS, WRE I was going to college for civil engineering. As part of the curriculum, I had to take a plane surveying class. After the first week of class I knew what I wanted to do. I switched majors and never looked back! Brenton Griffin, LSI My way was very similar to Clint’s! It felt good to get wise and enlightened to the better profession. Bill Ham, PLS, WRE By default. I had been working summers for the US Forest Service. I had been on a road survey crew and the next year the engineer in charge thought he could help out the land survey department and let me go search corners for a summer. By a month into that job, I was hooked. I knew I had found my home and began learning all I could. I was offered a career appointment, passed the tests for an Idaho PLS and was being groomed for a permanent job. Then the so-called “environmental movement” took off and destroyed many forest service jobs. I went back to surveying roads for about three years in a non-spotted owl forest, passed the test for an Oregon PLS, and moved into a land surveyor position. I’ve been in it ever since 1989. The job is great and I still get paid to hike. Life is good! Dick Staples, PLS (Idaho) I started surveying in 1971—it was a summer job in the Colorado Rockies and an opportunity to make enough money to get me through my last year of college. I fell in love with the mountains—and the job—and never went back to school. I had no idea of the depths of the profession at the time, but it has truly been a rewarding journey. Terry Hendryx, PLS During a career day my junior year in high school, Crown Zellerbach’s district engineer took us out and we charted on paper the contours of a hill at a nearby park. Dave Wellman, PLS, PE I started with a summer job working for a timber company marking lines. One thing leads to another, and each new job experience piques the interest to see what other challenges are out there. Ultimately, it’s the combination of history, research, detective work, field experience, and the technical and legal aspects all rolled into one profession. How could you get bored? Robert Hamman, PLS I became a land surveyor by chance. I was visiting my dad in Florence, Oregon, one wintertime and he told me that Eugene Wobbe of Plants and Associates PE and LS was looking for a chainman. I went down, applied for the job, was immediately hired, and started work as a chainman/ brush cutter. Reaganomics came about in the 1980s and I lost my position and moved back to Salem. I worked road construction for a few years. One of the gentlemen I was working for hired me to work for him at Riverside Engineering and I became a crew chief. One day while coming to work after nine years of being a crew chief there a truck hit my truck and I became disabled and was told I could never field survey again. From there I took some classes at Chemeketa Community College and received an associates degree. As a first-year student I passed my LSIT, second year passed the professional exam except for Oregon law. It took me another year to pass Oregon law, and that’s how I became a surveyor. continued If we are to attract new surveyors to the profession, we need to cast a wide net to attract people from fields where you might not expect surveyors to come from.
11 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Featured Article THE LONG WAY AROUND, PART I By Mike Fallert, PLS Pat Gaylord gave such a great speech this year at the PLSO conference about getting the magazine some stories that I was inspired to put this article together. I may not be the best storyteller, but the journey of the Oregon Trail is so interesting that it’s a story that practically tells itself. We’ll start the story in a small town in southeastern Idaho called Arco, where I was born. Arco is nestled at the mouth of the Big Lost River Valley on the northerly edge of the Snake River Plane, which is a wide and flat area formed by lava flow. Interesting fact: Arco was the first city in the world to be lit by atomic power! This curious incident happened for about an hour on July 17, 1955, powered by the Argonne National Laboratory’s BORAXIII reactor at the nearby Idaho National Laboratory. I was born in the local hospital there as a fourth-generation homesteader on both sides of my family. My great grandfather Lorenzo Fallert came over from the Baden-Baden region of Germany in the late 1800s–early 1900s and homesteaded in the Little Lost River Valley. My great grandfather Lewis Smith came from the Midwest, also with German heritage, to the Big Lost River Valley in the early 1900s and homesteaded. My grandfather Harold Smith was a proud graduate of the 8th grade and was out on his own to make a life. He did just that and eventually acquired other homesteads adjacent to his family in the Darlington area north of Arco. Now here is where the “surveying” part begins! As farmers and ranchers, the need for irrigation ditches where water could flow amid the fields was a necessity, along with fences for the cattle. The Smith continues Main Street, Arco, Idaho. Photo by Squelle, licensed under Creative Commons. Arco, Idaho, in 2000. Photo by davidwilson1949, licensed under Creative Commons.
12 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 3 Featured Article family worked together on their properties for both of these needs. I remember being quite young and seeing my grandpa get out this small rectangular wooden box, and some strange stand thing that folded up with a stick with numbers and a red and white target on it. I still have the whole set, by the way! I did not know at the time that these moments would push me to be where I am today as a land surveyor. In high school in Mackay, Idaho, it came time as a senior to “plan for your future.” Everyone asked, “What are you going to do?” As I looked through college catalogs, I came across a “Land Surveying Program” continued A map showing Goodale's Cutoff in relation to the Oregon Trail. Used by permission from the National Park Service. Goodale's Cutoff of the Oregon Trail at Lava Lake, west of Arco, Idaho, and east of Carey, Idaho, along US 26, 20, 93. Photo by James Tolbert, licensed under Creative Commons. at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Oregon. I thought, “Hey! That is what grandpa had and was doing with that strange contraption years ago, let’s try that out!” Very decisive right? Little did I know you needed to be good at math. But I applied and went to school to learn surveying and I even survived, barely! Later in my career I got the opportunity to go back and survey my family's homestead. I had to break down four sections in order to do this and enjoyed the satisfaction of great work and heritage when I went to set new 1/16th corners along the western boundary. I had to knock the brace post cross members sideways a bit to set the bars! They knew their boundary lines. Nowmany years later, all this has brought me around to working for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) for the last 16+ years before recently going to work with David Evans & Associates. In the ODOT position I got to research lots of old deeds and maps and occasionally we got Public Records Requests (PRR) for information. In August 2021, we received one of these PRR’s for information related to the Original Oregon Trail. I looked through our RW maps and did not find anything directly related, but I did find lots of bits and pieces in areas near the highways. Laura Wilt, who is the research librarian for ODOT, had a great find that I will share in a moment! Mike Fallert's grandfather's level.
13 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Featured Article By now you are wondering why I have written all the Idaho stuff. I told you this was the long way around, just like the trail itself! Although it is not a part of the main Oregon Trail, there is a cutoff route called Goodale’s Cutoff that goes past Arco, Idaho, along the northern edge of the Snake River Plane. Goodale’s Cutoff goes through the Craters of the Moon National Park as well as US 20, US 26, and US 93. Goodale’s Cutoff left the trail near Fort Hall, crossed the Snake River Plane to the Lost River, and then turned west toward Boise, crossing Camas Prairie. It rejoined the main trail fromDitto Creek to Boise, then ran to the north of the main trail, crossing the Snake River into Oregon at Brownlee’s Ferry. I traveled the route in Idaho for several years going back and forth from home to college in Ontario! In the mid-1950s, ODOT wanted to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Oregon Trail, and some diligent employees from La Grande went on a research and mapping expedition, mostly in their spare time, to accomplish a great feat in locating as much of the Original Oregon Trail as possible so that it could be marked, mapped, and preserved. Part 2 of this article, which will publish in the next issue, will show these ODOT maps, tell a little of their history, and how the public records request process works, so stay tuned for that. I do want to leave you with one last note completing the end of the Oregon Trail, which is ODOT’s Right of Way file No. 00001, the deed to the Barlow Trail, which you can see at right. Thanks for going along with me on this journey, and for all those who help preserve the history of surveying. Mike Fallert is Senior Surveyor at David Evans & Associates, in their Pocatello, Idaho, office. At the time he wrote this article, Mike had spent more than 16 years with the Oregon Department of Transportation, starting as Junior Surveyor/Inspector in the Astoria Construction office, then progressing to Surveyor/ Inspector, Crew Chief, Region 2 Project Surveyor, and leaving the position as Lead Right of Way Surveyor over the Right of Way Engineering group. Mike has an associate of science degree in survey engineering technology from Ontario, Oregon's Treasure Valley Community College. Mike’s diverse background includes growing up farming and ranching in Southern Idaho, several positions with private engineering firms performing boundary surveying, land development, construction surveying, and construction testing and inspection in both Nevada and Idaho. George W. Joseph and Bertha L. Joseph were paid $1 by the state of Oregon for The Mt Hood & Barlow Road between the town of Sandy in Clackamas County, to Government Camp, to Wapinitia, Oregon. The document was signed September 8, 1919 and says: “To have and to hold unto the said State of Oregon, with all its mountains and hills, its forests and vines, its flowers and shrubs, its valleys and dells, its crags and rocks, its gorges and canyons, its glaciers and snow fields, its rivers and streams, its lakes and springs, its animals and birds, its tempests and storms, its lights and shadows, its trails and paths, and the beauties and grandeur of Mount Hood, for the use, benefit and pleasure of all forever.”
14 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 3 Featured Article WOMEN IN SURVEYING By Renee Clough, PLS, PE, AICP This article has been years in the making. In 2015, I read Marked, a novel by Karen Zollman. The story is fictional, but my understanding is that it’s based on her real-life experiences as a female surveyor. I was surprised by the amount of sexism that Ms. Zollman portrayed; it didn’t align with my experiences as a female surveyor. This led to me wondering whose experiences, mine or Ms. Zollman’s, were more normal. This article was born from that curiosity. I decided to talk to a selection of other women in the field and share what I learned. Of the approximately 820 active surveyor licenses in Oregon, somewhere in the range of 35 to 60 are female.* Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a precise count; since OSBEELS doesn’t track gender I had to estimate the women based on first name. I like to joke that, with so few women to men, the PLSO conferences are the only place I can be in a large crowd and walk right into the bathroom for my pick of stalls. As I quickly realized though, the flip side to that coin was that I didn’t have immediately on hand a large pool of people to interview for this article. The women who were generous enough to give time answering my questions were Paula Norness, Cindy Halcumb, Alycia Lenzen-Hammer, and Edith Forkner. I met Paula through PLSO early in my career; she was close to retirement and an institution in the local survey community. Sadly, she died shortly after I interviewed her but I’m glad I was able to include her voice here. I’ve never met Cindy; Greg Crites recommended her to me for this article. She owns a surveying business in Washington but holds an active Oregon license. Alycia has a number of family members who made careers out of survey fieldwork but her own path to surveying is via a degree in natural resources. At this point, she’s learning about the breadth of options in the industry as she works toward licensure. Edith works for the BLM and has made a number of PLSS presentations for PLSO gatherings. I asked all of them the same questions. I’ve done some editing of their answers to keep this from running on forever but, overall, I’ve tried to leave the answers as the women said them so that readers can draw their own conclusions. Why did you go into surveying? Renee: I’m sure on some level my dad being a surveyor influenced me, but the final decision to switch from structural engineering to a blend of civil engineering and surveying came from a summer job with Greg Solarz. Paula: Her father being a surveyor was a significant influence and helped smooth over what could have been significant barriers. Interestingly, she didn’t originally intend to become licensed. Her dad was the first surveyor in Lane County to hire a woman. Cindy: Was studying at the School of Mines in Colorado and had a summer job doing tunnel surveying in Hawaii. She enjoyed the summer job so much that she didn’t return to school. Alycia: She took a four-month internship with the South Slough Sanctuary (near Coos Bay) because the RTK surveying and GIS work sounded interesting. As part of that internship, she worked with John Minor on topo surveying. She enjoyed being outdoors and through John’s mentorship realized that surveying was an attractive career option. Following the internship, she connected with Chris Glanz who further reinforced her interest in surveying. Edith: She was near the end of a math degree and realized she needed to figure out something to do as a career. After taking multiple career placement questionnaires at the counseling center, she realized surveying was a common theme to the results. As she learned more about the career, she realized it was a good fit because surveying blends the type of math she likes with her enjoyment of the outdoors, history, and hiking. Based on that she got a second degree in geomatics. What are your favorite things about surveying? Renee: A combination of working on a giant jigsaw puzzle and helping people. Paula: Investigating, especially historic records; drafting; and human interactions. Cindy: The day-to-day variety and challenges; meeting people. Alycia: GPS, coordinate systems and geodesy. Photogrammetry and remote sensing are also intriguing. Edith: Hiking, history, and sharing her knowledge so that others can understand too. What type of projects do you primarily work on? Renee: Urban development: subdivisions, partitions, site plan review, etc. Paula: Cemeteries, topography, timber boundaries, water rights. Cindy: Mostly commercial, but a fair amount of tunnel control. Alycia: At this point she doesn’t have a primary survey project type, but she
16 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 3 Featured Article Are there any projects you think shaped you as a surveyor? Renee: I may be an oddity, but I don’t feel there’s been any particularly defining projects for me. I feel that I’ve learned from all of my projects . . . communication skills, a new research tool, brushing the dust off my cadastral knowledge, etc. Paula: Difficult boundary surveys had the most effect on her skills. Cindy: A project in the Portland area that had a church and required historic preservation of a carriage house. Her role included construction monitoring and staking inside the building. At one point a prism selection error in the data collector made it appear as if the walls were moving; the building was evacuated before the real issue was realized. Alycia: Hands down being an intern at the South Slough Sanctuary. Edith: People have had more influence than projects. Frank Tuers was a mentor early in her career and she appreciated his ability to teach without it being obvious that he was teaching. Are you glad you went into the profession? Renee: Absolutely. I can’t imagine a better fit for my personality. Paula: Yes. Cindy: Yes, but she wishes she had a civil license as well. Alycia: So far surveying feels like the right path and she’s excited to see what lies ahead. Edith: She is glad that she went into surveying and said she can’t imagine being as happy as she is doing any other type of job. She might be willing to do another job, but she wouldn’t be as happy. Do you have any advice for other women in or entering the profession? Renee: We’re all people; a male makes just as good of a role model and mentor as a female. Don’t feel shy about questions, males have them too. The males that I’ve mentored have asked the same questions I did. If someone makes an insensitive comment, use it as a teaching moment for them rather than either staying silent or getting angry. Most likely they thought the comment or action would be interpreted very differently and they will appreciate learning how to actually accomplish what they intended. Paula: Don’t overwork yourself, especially don’t give too much to those who don’t deserve it. Know your boundaries (physical and mental). “I can do this, but you’ll do it better” will gain a lot of respect. Cindy: Don’t be afraid to be a minority. It’s a good profession for women because we tend to have better communication skills. It’s fun to be different. It’s easier for men to remember you than you to remember them since you stand out more. Alycia: There is a lot of variety in subject matter and job duties; this creates extensive opportunity to customize your career based on your interests. Edith: People are less likely to question you if you don’t question yourself. Act with confidence and that you’re equal and it won’t occur to them to think you’re not. In Conclusion My personal take-away is that my experiences seem to be fairly common for the era that I’ve practiced in. There was a time when overt sexism occurred but, for the most part, that has faded from the industry. There is still some lingering room for improvement, but I’m glad for this opportunity to observe how far we’ve come from Paula’s licensing experiences and the depiction in Marked. Renee Clough is a Pleasant Hill resident who has been working in the civil engineering and land surveying industry since achieving her BS in civil engineering in 2001 from Oregon State University. She is an OSBEELS board member. continued Of the approximately 820 active surveyor licenses in Oregon, somewhere in the range of 35 to 60 are female. I like to joke that, with so few women to men, the PLSO conferences are the only place I can be in a large crowd and walk right into the bathroom for my pick of stalls. * Based on some group discussions done by the Conference Committee at the conference, the actual number of female surveyors is 34, four own businesses, five are also a PE, and eight are also a WRE (Water Rights Examiner).
18 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 3 Member Spotlight Jerry Olson Olson Engineering, Inc. www.olsonengr.com By Vanessa Salvia Maybe a lot of people’s careers in surveying develop because they spent a lot of time out in the environment as a young person. That was certainly true for Jerry Olson, whose father had a small sawmill and logging operation in Forest Grove, Oregon. “He used to drag me out the woods with him to run compass lines around the timber tracts that he had purchased to log for his sawmill,” says Olson. “I was about 12. At first, he put a red hat on me, and I headed out as a flagman. And then eventually, he taught me how to use the staff compass so I was using a compass as a teenager.” Luckily, Olson enjoyed it—it wasn’t something he felt forced to do. And he always loved math and science. He had an uncle who graduated from the engineering school at Oregon State University in 1927, and Olson went to OSU too, at first for mechanical engineering. “That lasted a month!” he says. “I realized that I was going to have some kind of an office in the basement of a paper mill or something.” He had a friend who was in forest engineering, so Olson switched. He stayed at OSU long enough to get a master’s degree in 1963. His degrees enabled him to work for the government or different companies, so he was happy with the job opportunities he had and never considered a different career. “But once I got a job, a big part of it was surveying forest boundaries and I loved that part, much more than I liked any other part of the job,” he says. Olson had about five positions with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and ended up in Vancouver, Washington, which wasn’t far from his home. At one point he was an area engineer for southwest Washington in a supervisory role, but he knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur. “My dad has his own business and I knew that’s what I wanted to do eventually,” he says. “So, when I had the opportunity, I hung up my shingle in Vancouver. I had no clients, no jobs. I was single. My rent was $60 a month. My office was a drafting table in my apartment. That was 54 years ago.” Olson says he was always one of those people who sees that something needs continues Jerry Olson. My dad has his own business and I knew that’s what I wanted to do eventually. So, when I had the opportunity, I hung up my shingle in Vancouver. I had no clients, no jobs. I was single. My rent was $60 a month. My office was a drafting table in my apartment. That was 54 years ago.
19 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Member Spotlight A mountain climber/crewman and Jerry Olson surveying mining claims on Boston Glacier, within North Cascades National Park, above Thunder Creek in 1976. This was definitely a helicopter access survey. Jerry Olson in 1974 on top of Red Mountain, near Mount Adams, running CA 1000 Tellurometer on a control survey for Skamania County, Washington.
20 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 3 Member Spotlight continued to be done and then does it. And he also is the type of person to bring along other people to help him. “The first thing I did within a year or two of starting up was to form the Lower Columbia Chapter of LSAW,” he says. “I got my peers together and got to know them and, and met some mentors because I was pretty green, obviously, 27 years old when I started.” He became the first president and was a member of the State Board of Trustees. In 1979, on an industry trip to Reno he got excited about solar compasses in government surveys and the history of surveys. He has a surveying history section on his website, and he has authored books on the subject: Surveying North of the River and the reference handbook The First Land Surveyors of Washington, and he edited the book David D. Clarke 1864–1920, Narratives of a Surveyor and Engineer in the Pacific Northwest. He’s also written a history of the GLO in Washington and Oregon. He’s almost ready to publish a book called Surveying South of the River, which has a historical overview of the GLO Surveyors in Oregon. Most of what he has published he has given away or makes available as free downloads. Olson formed Olson Engineering in 1968, and even though he was an engineer, the company only did surveys. “Finally, they had clients say, why do we have to hire those guys? You’re an engineer? Why don't you do this? So, they finally shamed me into it. We started doing that and hired some good engineers who were better than I was.” The company had always done planning for subdivisions and developments, so they ended up hiring landscape architects and the company now offers landscape services. About five years ago, they bought another company that does wetland studies and environmental restoration. Now, they’ve got a good business going in both states with wetlands work and storm pond maintenance. “I have hired some really good people over the years, and we are like a family,” he says. In the ‛80s, he got a list of the GLO surveyors in Washington and where they surveyed and where their contracts were all around the state. He advocated for higher professional standards and continuing education, and in 1985, when an opening on the Board of Registration occurred, he was nominated. “At that time the board was five members who all had Jerry Olson, his wife, Patti, and their new puppy Ronnie. Jerry Olson in 1969 on an Archer Mountain survey in the Columbia Gorge. He’s carrying a concrete corner monument off to be buried at a 1/16 corner.
21 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Member Spotlight to be engineers, but one was traditionally a survey position,” says Olson, “Although the person rarely had been a practicing surveyor, he just happened to have a survey license but really practiced as an engineer.” He spent 10 years on the Board of Registration after that. “We ended up changing the law to get two surveying members on the board and I agreed to be one of those so the engineers didn't lose any representation,” he says. Over the years he got further involved in local government and in Clark County and was named the Land Development Council Chairman for the homebuilders, among other positions he has held, although he never actually ran for any elected offices. In about ‛97, he was appointed to the Washington State Survey Advisory Board. In 2007, he was asked to become a director of Riverview Community Bank, which is publicly traded on the NASDAQ. “I’m still there, but I’m finishing that up this year and still working and trying to slow down,” he says. Whatever work he might do outside the home might slow down but work on his property where he lives with his wife won't slow down any time soon. He and his wife, Patti, have lived on a 170-acre tree farm by Mount Saint Helens for the last 42 years. He says it doesn’t actually take a lot of work—“I mostly just let the trees grow,” he says. Patti has been a competitive horse rider, which is something she still does regularly. They also have a dog, a cat, and some chickens. Being a member of the PLSO and LSAW since the ‘70s has helped his career over the years, he says, and he has benefitted throughout all the positions he has held from the networking and connections he's been able to gain by being a member. “I nearly always go to the conventions, and I'm friends with a lot of people in the organizations,” he says. “I have advocated for interaction across the state boundary because we all have the same issues. And we compete in each other’s turf.” Olson says 50 years goes by so quickly. He is able to admit now that he had some indecision when he went to college, but he also realized that most people don’t knowwhat they’re really going to do when they go to school. “You start dabbling and taking courses and something piques your interest,” he says. “Fortunately, I discovered what I wanted to do early enough, that it didn’t cost me any extra years in school, and I’ve had a career that I’ve certainly enjoyed.” In about 1984 in Columbia County, Oregon, Jerry Olson’s office duties finally forced him to mostly abandon field work. He spent a lot of time on woods surveys chasing down original evidence for many years.
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