Certified Federal Surveyor (CFedS) Training Program

[OleManRiver]

Cfeds is available for a successful pass of the FS exam ? I wonder if the course would help in passing the PS exam.  I am in colonial country but have worked in PLSS states and know i need to refresh my memory on that information for the PS exam. Great posting maybe i will check this out for education purposes.  Always trying to learn something knew. 

[John Thompson]

I was, until recently, a Certified Fe’ral Surveyor. The course did have a significant amount of valuable, in-depth information and I had a much better handle on the workings of the PLSS after completing it. I also benefitted from the continuing ed courses, especially reading court cases to get a practical application of legal principles to a specific set of survey circumstances. I did not get any business from being a CFedS (that I know of), but it did result in offers for work that I turned down because it involved travel that I was unwilling to do. I was disappointed that there were not more CE courses available. I didn’t take them all, but I took most of the ones that I thought sounded interesting or useful to my work. I was especially disappointed that the program website was down for most of a year which prevented me from taking CE courses when I had time, then it came back online shortly before my renewal date with no accommodation for the delay. I ended up letting it expire.

[makerofmaps]

I would but I don’t see my boss dropping the $1200.

[OleManRiver]

$1200 doesnƒ??t seem high to me Those of you already licensed would you think it would be worth half say $600 as education and prep for the PS exam. I still have the 1973 manual and have it on my to do list to go through as part of my prep for the PS exam. If its worth $1200 education wise and I decide after getting my current state license to pursue say MS or other PLSS state license is it good for that. Education wise. Maybe I am wrong but $1200 for a 20 week course seems fairly cheap. How many college courses would one have to take to get that education I wonder. ROI might be more in education than jobs in a metes bounds state . 

[bill93]

ROI might be more in education than jobs in a metes bounds state .

Every state is a metes and bounds state. Some are only that, and others are that plus PLSS, Texas, Georgia land lots, or other special framework.

 

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[fairbanksls]

I got my AK license for the single purpose of doing construction surveying.  I think Iƒ??ll take the CFeds course to broaden my knowledge beyond what was necessary to pass the state specific exam.

[david-baalman]

I’ve had the CFedS since 2012. I can say that the coursework is outstanding, and has made me a better surveyor overall. That alone has made it worth well over $1200 to me. Add to that the fact that I’ve done about 15 jobs that I wouldn’t have done otherwise, I know that it’s paid for itself. We also do some work for some non-BIA federal agencies that have told me they like having a CFedS doing their work, so I think it’s probably helped us get some of those contracts.

Bottom line in my mind: if you do any amount of boundary work, especially PLSS boundary work, it’s well worth the money.

[FrozenNorth]

I was especially disappointed that the program website was down for most of a year which prevented me from taking CE courses when I had time, then it came back online shortly before my renewal date with no accommodation for the delay. I ended up letting it expire.

Email them, you can probably still complete your CE and maybe pay a late fee.  They were very accommodating to me and a couple others I know whose certifications expired before or during the website downtime.  It frankly wasn’t a big deal.

[OleManRiver]

@bill93 yes the famous land lots in parts of Georgia. This it seems after reading on here I might just go ahead and enroll. Knowledge can never hurt. At one point when I was in the USMC they had a guest speaker come by and was discussing ideas about the cfeds and where they wanted to go with the program. Since we were Geodetic Surveyors and a few of us had enrolled in a Approved Program that was federally funded and also recognized by NC at the time we got to have the person speak with us. I should have jump on board with it then I suppose. But we were in the heat of things as 911 had just unfolded and I was already having to pull out of calculus because of the mess. For some reason I thought they were pushing that any federal funded jobs or maybe on Federal land aka military bases and such they were going to try and mandate a cfeds be on the team. I believe after hearing I could enroll in it with just passing the FS exam got my attention. I will probably get on the website after next week and just go for it. Great little topic hear for sure.

[horseshoes-handgrenades]

@glen Thanks.  I’m aware I qualify to enroll in the course now.  I’m trying not to overload my self (and my wife) with the studying I’m already doing.  I plan on signing up for the course this summer or fall to begin working towards becoming CFedS.

[glen]

@john-thompson…John. The site was down from October 29th, 2021 till March 25, 2022. Because of this, we routinely offered a four-month extension on renewals and continuing education requirements. It’s not too late to rejoin the program. At this point, you would need to pay a $75 late fee and make up the CE credits. I earnestly believe that retaining your CFedS will benefit you in the future.

[John Thompson]

@glen @frozennorth Thanks.  I probably wrote it off too soon.  I may renew it in the future.

[glen]

I’d like to thank everyone for their comments about the CFedS program. Finishing up my first year as the CFedS Training Coordinator has been a challenging and rewarding experience. I owe much to my predecessors, Ron Scherler and Steve Parish. The BLM Program Manager, Tasha Huhta, and I have conducted numerous state society conference presentations and are working to develop additional continuing educational opportunities both online and in person.

If you’d like to stay updated with CFedS activities, in addition to the CFedS website (www.cfeds.org), I also maintain a LinkedIn CFedS page. Just search for Certified Federal Surveyor and it should come up. It’s a closed group but anyone connected to surveying, CFedS or not, is encouraged to join. Of course, I will continue to participate in this forum as well and respond to comments or inquiries.

Thanks again for your comments. I welcome input from my professional colleagues, 

 

[gene-kooper]

@john-thompson…John. The site was down from October 29th, 2021 till March 25, 2022. Because of this, we routinely offered a four-month extension on renewals and continuing education requirements. It’s not too late to rejoin the program. At this point, you would need to pay a $75 late fee and make up the CE credits. I earnestly believe that retaining your CFedS will benefit you in the future.

I also let my CFedS certification lapse, John. In part, I was waiting for the website to become fully functional again. CFedS 2.0 still does not have an updated CFedS roster, nor does my account information show that I have taken any CE courses. In addition, the 4 CEUs I had on October 29, 2021 also disappeared. I don’t normally choose to have my name listed on the CFedS roster as I am only licensed in Colorado and the only Indian Trust Lands in Colorado (to my knowledge) are in the southwestern part of the state.

In private correspondence with the CFedS folks in March of this year, I was urged to, “please consider renewing your account. I think you can make a positive contribution to this important endeavor.” In early April, I notified the CFedS folks that I was unable to register for any CFedS CE courses because I was NOT an active CFedS and the new website REQUIRES one to be an active CFedS in order to register for continuing education courses.

I have not received a reply to my being locked out from taking any CFedS course nor have I been notified as to why my 4 CEUs disappeared. I’m posting my issue here to see if my situation is an isolated one or if others that have let their CFedS certification lapse have the same problem as I do.

Note: the new website states that an inactive CFedS has 4 years to become active again or their name will be permanently removed.

I find it incredulous that in the 18 months since CFedS 1.0 disappeared that nobody involved with the new website has noticed this “glitch” let alone fix it. I realize (as do many on this forum) that I’m an odd duck and perhaps that oddness precipitated me falling through a crack in the system and cannot get out. 🙂

If so, I look forward to what WFPS will soon be offering for continuing education as an alternative after being locked out of all the CFedS CE courses.

 

[dmyhill]

I’d like to thank everyone for their comments about the CFedS program. Finishing up my first year as the CFedS Training Coordinator has been a challenging and rewarding experience. I owe much to my predecessors, Ron Scherler and Steve Parish. The BLM Program Manager, Tasha Huhta, and I have conducted numerous state society conference presentations and are working to develop additional continuing educational opportunities both online and in person.

 

Want CFEDS to be relevant and widely used and accepted?

1. Since it is paid for by tax dollars, and if the intent is to really have better survey work performed on and adjacent to public lands…All CFeds courses should be publicly and freely available. That is the starting point.
2. Charge for the test ONLY, make it less than $500.
3. Charge a nominal fee for maintaining the license. Make it less than $250.
4. Eliminate CE requirements, except for mandatory additional courses that are needed to remediate or correct reoccurring problems identified in the course materials.
5. Recurring testing (every two years) is used for renewal instead of CE.

 

Honestly, if it wasn’t such a pain to navigate the process, I would argue that every PLSS state should require the training, at least once.

 

 

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-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.

[thebionicman]

@olemanriver I paid the extra to get 4 semester hours credit though OIT. It was about $300.

[OleManRiver]

@thebionicman I will have to look into that. I have to ask a silly question. What is OIT. I know a few acronym’s but so many duplicates that are in my brain from the USMC and govt. and now trying to learn what the kids use. Thanks for that though. I will check it out.  What did the credits go towards like a specific class etc.

[thebionicman]

@olemanriver Oregon Institute of Technology

[OleManRiver]

@thebionicman gotcha. Is that where you are . I have not been out west in years. My brother and I almost bought a ranch out there once. Nice area but probably for the best two brothers in business together is not always the best.  It was around 2006 after i got out of the usmc.

[thebionicman]

@olemanriver I’m in Idaho for now. I’ll probably here until retirement, then heading for the Oregon coast. I love it there and my health does better..