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Dunn County surveyor underscores importance of re‑monumentation and original PLSS corners
Summary
County survey staff told the committee that the public land survey system's original section corners still control property descriptions and outlined ongoing re‑monumentation work, corner visits and the public benefits of preserving physical monuments.
Dunn County’s survey division presented its 2024 annual work summary on June 4 and emphasized the continued importance of preserving public land survey system (PLSS) corners and field monuments that define property boundaries.
"Between 1849 and 1849, wood posts were set at each one of the x's. Those posts were set to control all the property ownership within that square mile," County Survey staff member Greg Botzer said during his presentation, describing how eight original corner positions in a township section control all modern property descriptions within that square mile.
Botzer said survey staff performed extensive re‑monumentation and corner visits in 2024: the office visited 221 unique corners and filed 110 land corner record forms. The division also processed 95 certified survey maps, which created 153 new parcels; the fees collected ($27,900 in 2024) were deposited to the county general fund, he said.
"We go out, find the irons. If they're there, we measure them, locate them and then we go back once construction is done and make sure that nothing has been disturbed," Botzer said, explaining routine work the division does in coordination with the highway department when road projects threaten monuments.
Botzer illustrated why physical monuments — rebar, aluminum monuments with magnetic caps, short nails placed in roadways — matter to property owners and surveyors. He noted that modern road reconstruction can displace monuments and that maintaining witness monuments is often necessary when original corners fall in a lake, inside a building or otherwise are inaccessible.
The presentation included examples of private requests for re‑establishment and estimated public cost savings when county crews perform re‑monumentation instead of private contractors. Botzer said three private requests in 2024 yielded roughly $9,500 in cost savings to clients.
Ending: County survey staff asked the committee to notify contractors and the public to contact the survey office before road work or excavation that might disturb survey monuments; staff said preserving monuments keeps property descriptions accurate and reduces future legal and surveying costs.
