The LSAW Board of Directors met in person at Grand Davenport in Spokane, WA on Saturday, February 18, 2023, following the Annual Conference.

• The 2023 Conference was a success with over 500 attendees. The conference app will stay open for 3 months so attendees can manage their continuing education credits and certificates. If there are ideas or suggestions for sessions, speakers, or topics at future conferences, please send them to info@LSAW.org.

• The 2024 Conference will be held at the Tulalip Resort on February 28 – March 1.

• Greg Brooks was honored with LSAW’s Outstanding Surveyor (previously called the Surveyor of the Year) award at the Conference.

• Carla Meritt was granted Life membership.

• The update to the Washington State Common Law of Surveys and Property Boundaries publication is in final review and is expected to be released before summer.

• Mike McEvilly was appointed to the NSPS Director position, taking over for Carla Meritt.

• Legislative Committee Chair Mike McEvilly reported that AELC is keeping an eye on several bills during this legislative session and Christine Brewer is the new AELC lobbyist. 

• Several Chapters reported renewed energy at the chapter level post-pandemic while others say they are still struggling with participation. This is sometimes due to the timing of meetings and heavy traffic. Many Chapters have an abundance of money and are donating to scholarship funds.

• A position will be opening up on the Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors when Jim Wengler completes his term in 2024. If anyone is planning to apply and is seeking LSAW's endorsement, they should email the LSAW Executive Office.

• The LSAW Foundation awarded $11,750 in its latest round of scholarships this past summer and raised $5,555 at the Conference.

• Future Board of Directors Meeting Dates:

Saturday, May 20, 2023 at 10 AM – Wenatchee Valley Tech Center in Wenatchee

Tuesday, August 8, 2023 at 5 PM – Zoom Video Conference 

Friday/Saturday, November 3-4, 2023 – Workshop & Board Meeting in Vancouver

• The next issue of the Evergreen State Surveyor is scheduled for May. Editor Ben Petersen would like pictures of your surveying truck boxes if you have an interesting design to share.

• Chris Jepson was appointed Chair of the Outreach Committee, taking over for Carla Meritt to lead the outreach efforts for LSAW. Contact Chris at chris@jepsonengineering.com if you have ideas or would like to help with Outreach.

• LSAW is looking for a Monument Preservation Bill sponsor in order to reintroduce the bill in 2023; it will no longer be going through as an agency request by DNR. Contact Pat Beehler at pjbeehler@comcast.net if you know a legislator that would be willing to support monument preservation.

• LSAW members are encouraged to check out Mentoring Mondays, a free weekly virtual discussion group for the profession.

• Help build the 2022 Transformation Tool, get out and collect GPS on benchmarks. Tom Barger is coordinating this effort for Washington State. Deadline has been extended to September 30, 2023.

ACTION ITEM: Each chapter should plan to occupy the priority bench marks in their region.

Information is located at: https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/GPSonBM/ 

• Make sure you are signed up for the DNR Survey Advisory Board Listserv to stay informed of current actions. https://dnr.us17.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=c02727eba32708644be290819&id=8aea9a1d67

• Be sure to subscribe to the LSAW Calendar (google calendar) or check back often as Chapter and other events are added.

LSAW COMMITTEES

Most of the Association’s activities are accomplished by its committees and, therefore, productive committees are vital to LSAW's success. Members are encouraged to participate in committees. Click here for a list of LSAW Committees and their current Chairs.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact the LSAW Executive Office at (888) 994-2845.

This notice is to inform you of an amendment to WAC 332-150-030 Survey, Plat, and Map Filing and Recording Fees. The Board of Natural Resources passed a resolution on March 7, 2023, to amend this WAC to increase the surcharge fee for recording a survey map from $64 to $100.  A public notice will be sent out soon through a Rule-Making Order, or CR-103P. This planned fee increase will take place on July 1, 2023.

This fee increase is necessary to enable the Public Land Survey Office (PLSO) to continue providing its current level of service, as well as to acquire additional staffing to address the backlog of donated survey records in our possession. If you have any questions, please contact Pat Beehler at (360) 902-1181, or through email at Pat.Beehler@dnr.wa.gov.

Thank you,

David M. Icenhower, PLS, CFedS

Manager, Public Land Survey Office

david.icenhower@dnr.wa.gov

801 – 88th Ave. SE Tumwater, WA 98501-7019

Office 360-902-1197

Participating in career technical education (CTE) events, STEM events, and events focusing on school counselors, has proven successful. Special thanks to Trent Keenan for developing a poster that can be distributed at these events. The poster depicts the different paths to licensure and features QR codes along the path to resources such as Trig-Star, Get Kids Into Survey, Future Cities, NSPS CST, and more. If you are participating in an outreach event targeted toward counselors or CTE professionals and would like handout posters, please contact LSAW at info@LSAW.org

Each webinar features an NGS employee delving into a topic of interest, and generally includes a moderated question and answer session. These webinars are geared toward geospatial professionals as well as educators/students of geodesy and remote sensing. 

Registration is free, webinars are streamed via GoToWebinar, and video recordings are made available for later viewing.