Surveying
Public Land Survey System
In Burnett County, the Original Government Survey came through and sectionalized the land starting in 1849 and ending around 1856. The Burnett County Land Services Department is responsible for maintaining these United States Public Land Survey System (PLSS) corners.
The PLSS controls property boundaries and is the basis of land title. In 2008 the program at Burnett County was restructured to increase efficiency, productivity and accuracy using consistent surveying practices while decreasing the overall cost.
Latest Technology
The latest Global Navigation Satellite System and Robotic Total Station technology is used to attain high-accuracy coordinate-data on the PLSS corners and on nearby reference monuments used to verify the position of the PLSS corner. This equipment also makes a one-man surveying crew possible.
Filing a Field Record
After the surveyor has been to a corner in the field a record is made and filed at the Land Services Department, showing what was found or set for the corner along with other important data. One drawing maintained by the surveyor containing the entire County is kept current by importing data on a day-to-day basis. This drawing contains PLSS corners and a breakdown of any completed sections. At this point it is turned over to be digitally parcel mapped.
Restructured Survey Program
As of April 2020 the restructured surveying program has been up and running for 12 years. In this time 23 townships have been completed, along with many other corners throughout the county because of road construction activities. In these 12 years, 3050 PLSS corners have been remonumented or had maintenance done, this represents 93% of the PLSS corners in the county. The Town of Trade Lake is being worked on in 2020. The Town of Scott will be done by mid 2021. After the Town of Scott the only area remaining for remonumentation will be the St. Croix River corridor. This area will be challenging; based on the remote area, limited access and limited survey records.