Alicia Glassford

"Whose woods these are, I think I know. His house is in the village though."

While the average landowner may not phrase it as poetically as Robert Frost, the question of ownership is important to all tree farmers. The ownership answer lies in a property boundary survey, which should be completed by a registered land surveyor. This article describes the benefits of having a property boundary survey completed for your property and identifies the risks you are exposed to by not having a survey.

A property boundary survey can provide both tangible and intangible benefits to your tree farm. Tangible benefits include the monuments placed by the land surveyor at your property corners. Some surveyors will also establish confidence markers along the property line so that you can construct a fence or blaze or paint line trees.

Another tangible benefit is the record of survey completed by the land surveyor. In Oregon, when licensed land surveyors place monuments at property corners, they are required to record a map documenting the monuments and the rationale used to establish their locations. This map becomes part of the public record and is indexed and stored, usually by the county surveyor. Other surveyors will reference this map before conducting future surveys of the surrounding area. Title companies, realtors and neighbors will also have ready access to the map.

This combination of monuments and map provides the landowner with a clear and lasting record of the survey results. Even if monuments are intentionally moved or inadvertently disturbed, the map will provide the information needed to reestablish monuments.

Monuments at property corners and public record maps bring intangible benefits to your tree farm as well. For example, you will have an accurate accounting of the acres within your ownership. An accurate acreage will improve monitoring of production and yield information.

A property boundary survey can also help your estate planning efforts. If your estate plan calls for eventual sale of the tree farm, the value will be enhanced because the property has been surveyed. If your plan is to partition the property for your heirs, you have already completed the most difficult step. For most partitions, establishing the perimeter of the property to be partitioned is the majority of the work. Breaking the parent parcel into smaller parcels is a secondary step. You will be ahead by having a property boundary survey on file before you initiate a partition of your tree farm.

Also, what better gift to leave your heirs than a parcel that has been surveyed?

Corner monuments and a filed map help you manage tree farm risks, one of which is timber trespass. If you harvest trees on your neighbor's property, you could be held responsible for triple the amount of damages suffered by your neighbor. Penalties can be reduced to double the amount of damages if the trespass was casual or involuntary. However, whether double or triple damages are awarded, the court has the latitude to hold you responsible for the cost of litigation and reforestation. Another risk in which a property boundary survey can help is road or skyline corridor trespass. If you construct a road or girdle a tailhold tree on your neighbor's property without permission, you could again be subject to double or triple the amount of damages.

The risk of disturbing government survey monuments is reduced by having a property boundary survey. In the course of a survey, the land surveyor will search for and refresh evidence of the original government survey monuments. In timbered areas, trees were blazed by the original surveyors along section lines and at section corners. Removing these trees can invoke a fine or even imprisonment. A property boundary survey helps protect the landowner from this risk because the surveyor will document on the map any evidence found of the original government survey. These trees can then be avoided during harvest.

Adverse possession is another risk that a property boundary survey helps you manage. Adverse possession is a legal concept that reflects the philosophy of the homesteading era. If a landowner occupied an adjoining parcel and the neighbor allowed the occupation to continue without protest for 10 years, rights to the land could pass to the occupying landowner. The law was enacted to encourage homesteaders to farm and develop their property rather than to allow it to lie fallow.

However, the long-term rotations associated with tree farming have never fit well with the 10-year adverse possession rule. More passive tree farm management strategies could be interpreted as a willingness to relinquish property rights. In a 10-year period, a tree farmer may do nothing other than allow an existing fence or line of blazed trees to remain uncontested. If the fence or demarcations are mislocated and the neighbor brings suit, you could sacrifice rights to some of your property. By securing a property boundary survey, the tree farmer asserts property rights. To help your neighbors understand what you have asserted, it is wise to fence or plainly mark the surveyed line and send copies of the map to adjoining landowners via certified mail. While latent adverse possession claims could still arise from previous ownerships, the risk of claims from current and future occupancy would be reduced.

Tree farm management involves managing risks of all kinds. A property boundary survey is a good tool for managing several risks, and it can benefit your operation. These results will only be realized if your property boundary survey is completed by a registered land surveyor. Before becoming registered, a surveyor must meet eight years of education and experience requirements, and pass rigorous exams covering technical and legal principles. Property boundary location can be complex and should be completed by an expert. Doing it yourself may expose you to more risk than you are willing to absorb. For further information regarding property boundary surveys or a list of registered land surveyors working in your area, contact your county surveyor.

Alicia Glassford, a professional land surveyor and member of the Oregon Tree Farm System, has property in Wallowa County, Ore.

This article appeared in the Northwest Woodlands Magazine, Summer 2000- Published quarterly by the World Forestry Center as a benefit of membership in the Oregon Small Woodlands Association, Washington Farm Forestry Association, Idaho Forest Owners Association and Montana Forest Owners Association.