Surveyors are natural explorers, so they appreciate and enjoy the beauty and infinite variety of nature every day. Unless you choose a profession that includes the outdoors, people must intentionally plan a trip to a county, state or national park. Most people aren’t aware that surveyors were instrumental in the creation of our National Parks, including our first – Yellowstone National Park.

It’s hard to overstate how important surveying was to the establishment of the United States – three of our presidents were surveyors, as well as six of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. But even before there were presidents, surveying and cartography played an essential role in the fight for independence.

I’m sure most surveyors have heard of the “Final Point” program created by Berntsen International, Inc. and the National Society of Professional Surveyors Foundation (NSPSF). It’s a way to memorialize the work of beloved surveyors who have had a lasting impact on the profession, while supporting the future of surveying through NSPS/Berntsen scholarships.

Madison, Wisconsin – March 7, 2022: Berntsen International, Inc., was recognized with the High Potential Award at the 2022 Esri Partner Conference (EPC) held in Palm Springs, California March 5–7, 2022. This award was presented to Berntsen International Inc., for the substantial opportunity for growth represented by its InfraMarker® Connected RFID™ solution that links the power of ArcGIS with RFID asset marking to deliver more accurate and efficient field operations.

Seventy-eight years ago today, Operation Overlord was launched – known as D-day, one of the greatest combined military operations ever undertaken. It was ambitious on a size and scale that is unparalleled to this day. What isn’t often remembered is what it took to plan the invasion. Everything about the landing sites had to be known – a tall order because the entire coast was enemy territory. That’s where surveyors and reconnaissance experts came in.

Andrew Ellicott’s family emigrated from Wales to what is now Bucks County in Pennsylvania in 1731. They had to leave Wales because Ann Bye Ellicott was a Quaker and when she married Ellicott (a non-Quaker), they were disowned and needed to start anew.

Andrew Ellicott was the first of nine children born to Joseph and Judith. The family continued the Quaker faith, finding welcome in a state founded by a Quaker, William Penn. Joseph supported the growing family by working as a miller and clockmaker. The children were educated at the local Quaker school, where Andrew’s talent for math and mechanics was encouraged and developed.

It’s spring and construction is booming . . . hopefully with fewer actual “booms”, caused by utility strikes. Safe digging is something that’s near and dear to surveyors and any profession that involves excavation. As I mentioned in my last blog, preventable utility strikes cost at least $60 billion annually, not to mention the loss of life and life-altering injuries that can occur.

As surveyors intimately understand, it’s very important to know what’s below. Your life could depend on it. National Safe Digging Month was created in 2008 by the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) to bring visibility to protecting workers, utilities and the public by working to prevent utility strikes during excavation. This group is comprised of companies and individuals in every facet of the underground utility industry, including Berntsen.

Yellowstone was established by Congress as the world’s first national park on March 1, 1872, following three expeditions to the region (the Folsom-Cook-Peterson Expedition of 1869; the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition of 1870; and the official, government sponsored Hayden Expedition of 1871). The expeditions were seeking the truth to the numerous rumors about the area that was described as “smoking with the vapor from boiling springs; and burning with gasses . . . “ (Joe Meek, fur trapper, 1829). What the men of these expeditions saw astounded and inspired them. The unique geology of the area galvanized them to petition Congress to set the area aside as a “public pleasureing-ground” protecting from “injury or spoliation” the “timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities or wonders within said park, and their retention in their natural condition.”

Near midnight on August 4th, 1984, the M/V Wellwood, a 400-foot steel-hulled freighter, struck Molasses Reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. This wasn’t good for the Wellwood, and it was disastrous for Molasses Reef; 1,280 square meters of coral reef habitat was Molasses Reef / Wellwood Restoration Site Monument utterly destroyed, reduced to pulverized coral rubble.

In June of 1989, a team of eight men ─ formally called The 1989 Mt. McKinley Global Positioning Expedition ─ set out from a base camp to perform one of the most unusual survey projects the world has ever seen. Their mission was to verify, by the most sophisticated satellite positioning methods, the true summit elevation and position of the highest mountain peak on the North American continent, Denali. [Mt. McKinley was renamed with its original name, Denali, in 2015]. The project involved hundreds of hours of planning, thousands of dollars in costs, the use of the most up to date global positioning equipment to track several special military communication satellites orbiting the earth . . . and one Berntsen Survey Monument, which was placed precisely at the summit.

At the beginning of nearly every autumn season, I set out on vacation, hoping to see new places and learn new things. I often seek out new territory as I did this year, but I also found myself trekking back to a much favored area in Utah: Zion National Park. Although I’ve been there in the past for sightseeing and hiking its impressive rock trails, it is always a joy to visit. And this time, I’d like to especially thank Leo Snow.

National Surveyor’s Week is an opportunity to highlight the many benefits of a career in surveying and to celebrate the accomplishments of the surveying community.  Over the past year, I’ve been highlighting the work of colonial surveyors, from John Morton to Thomas Jefferson. These early surveyor’s contributions extend far beyond surveying boundaries – their background helped them to literally lay the foundation of our nation.

Madison, Wisconsin – March 7, 2022: Berntsen International, Inc., was recognized with the High Potential Award at the 2022 Esri Partner Conference (EPC) held in Palm Springs, California March 5–7, 2022. This award was presented to Berntsen International Inc., for the substantial opportunity for growth represented by its InfraMarker® Connected RFID™ solution that links the power of ArcGIS with RFID asset marking to deliver more accurate and efficient field operations.

It seems like every day there is an observation of some kind. For example, an important observation occurred on March 6 – it was National Oreo Cookie Day. Rest assured, I didn’t miss observing that important day!

Most engineers would argue that it’s always engineers week, but this week is the “official” week to highlight the stunning array of engineering accomplishments and types of engineering that make our lives easier in every way.

Whenever President’s Day rolls around, we, as surveyors, can’t help but think of the historical importance of surveying in the United States – not only because Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson were all surveyors, but the impact surveying had on the development of the nation. I’ve touched on that in blogs I’ve done about colonial surveyors, but the depth of the subject calls for a look into how surveying developed in America.

Surveying is more than a profession, it’s a trove of fascinating history and knowledge – from the Egyptians to the Romans to Thomas Jefferson, surveying has been an integral part of the growth of civilization and economic development.

Today I’m sharing my research about a surveyor who didn’t have the best start in life. John Morton was born in Pennsylvania in 1725 shortly after the death of his father, one of the first Swedish immigrants who settled on the banks of the Delaware river in Pennsylvania in an area called New Sweden.

2022 marks Berntsen’s 50th anniversary. Thank you, surveyors for your support over the past half-century. Berntsen has been supporting surveyors for longer that I’ve been surveying.

It’s been an interesting road, and I’ve really enjoyed digging into Berntsen’s storied past. I’ve come up with a few gems I’ll share with you throughout 2022. Here’s a quick overview of our history.