Many foresters in my area (NY) advertise that they perform Boundary Line Maintenance and Boundary Line Locations. This includes marking the boundary line for timber trespass so that a land owner can tell where their property line is. You can find these ads on Craigslist and many forestry publications and websites. I've attached an example of one ad. This company even advertises that they have experience in subdividing land! 
In my opinion and the opinion of OPD (Office Of Professional Discipline) that this is Surveying without a license. The problem is that almost all foresters do this and since they do not hold a professional license, OPD can't really do anything to them so the practice continues.
Does anyone have any opinions on this or any similar stories in other states where this may have been addressed?
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kabonski, post: 417775, member: 1518 wrote: since they do not hold a professional license, OPD can't really do anything to them
Huh? Your board can't do anything about unlicensed practice? What's up with that?
kabonski, post: 417775, member: 1518 wrote: Many foresters in my area (NY) advertise that they perform Boundary Line Maintenance and Boundary Line Locations. This includes marking the boundary line for timber trespass so that a land owner can tell where their property line is. You can find these ads on Craigslist and many forestry publications and websites. I've attached an example of one ad. This company even advertises that they have experience in subdividing land!
In my opinion and the opinion of OPD (Office Of Professional Discipline) that this is Surveying without a license. The problem is that almost all foresters do this and since they do not hold a professional license, OPD can't really do anything to them so the practice continues.
Does anyone have any opinions on this or any similar stories in other states where this may have been addressed?
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" The problem is that almost all foresters do this and since they do not hold a professional license, OPD can't really do anything to them ..."
Then you need to report your Board to your AG. They are charged with protecting the public, are they not?
Jim in AZ, post: 417824, member: 249 wrote: " The problem is that almost all foresters do this and since they do not hold a professional license, OPD can't really do anything to them ..."
Then you need to report your Board to your AG. They are charged with protecting the public, are they not?
From what I understand OPD's next step is to bring it to the AG. But from what I hear the AG pushes cases like this aside or doesn't put much weight on them because they spend the majority of the time looking at physician malpractice and a few other profession's misconduct issues and are overloaded with those cases. It's a frustrating process but I guess it just takes time.
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Are they establishing and staking the boundary line or are they simply maintaining and posting an existing boundary?
"Property Line Location & Annual Maintenance" to me means maintaining posted signs along the boundary. It is much more difficult to enforce trespassing on a non posted property.
I like the touch of offering either walking or riding tours.
I find it odd that they are licensed real estate brokers but do not sell houses.
Mark Mayer, post: 417785, member: 424 wrote: Huh? Your board can't do anything about unlicensed practice? What's up with that?
they don't seem to follow up much on this..........
Foresters here call them "maintenance lines". They even paint X's for witnesses "near the corner".
Most anyone can maintain an existing marked boundary.
Hopefully they are in the correct location.
Back in the 80s several local Foresters found themselves in deep 
after being found to have been surveying and marking boundaries that were proven to be 20 to 80 feet away from the correct locations.
They never marked another boundary as far as know and past away years ago.
In Arkansas the Board investigator had them charged with fraud for offering services they were not qualified to perform, therefore defrauding the public
Dan Dunn, post: 417871, member: 911 wrote: Are they establishing and staking the boundary line or are they simply maintaining and posting an existing boundary?
"Property Line Location & Annual Maintenance" to me means maintaining posted signs along the boundary. It is much more difficult to enforce trespassing on a non posted property.
They claim to do deed research, locate your corners, then find and stake the boundary line.
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A Harris, post: 417892, member: 81 wrote: Most anyone can maintain an existing marked boundary.
Hopefully they are in the correct location.
Back in the 80s several local Foresters found themselves in deep
They never marked another boundary as far as know and past away years ago.
A Forester using a garmin GPS in Redwood forest resulted in 200' feet off in places. Some places in 3900 feet of boundary they were only 50' off. They took an 11' diameter Redwood because of that.
Dave Karoly, post: 417920, member: 94 wrote: A Forester using a garmin GPS in Redwood forest resulted in 200' feet off in places. Some places in 3900 feet of boundary they were only 50' off. They took an 11' diameter Redwood because of that.
That brings up another good point. There is a conflict of interest if the forester harvesting trees for money marks the boundary where he can harvest from. It makes it easier for timber theft to happen. I don't think most foresters are maliciously and knowingly doing anything wrong. They are just misinformed, but this practice offers no protection to the general public including the forester, their client, and more so to the adjoining property owners who in most cases will never know how the common boundary was marked.
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I recomend a certified complaint to the state bor. With evidence.
Dan Dunn, post: 417871, member: 911 wrote: Are they establishing and staking the boundary line or are they simply maintaining and posting an existing boundary?
"Property Line Location & Annual Maintenance" to me means maintaining posted signs along the boundary. It is much more difficult to enforce trespassing on a non posted property.
Same line they marked wrong last year...
This is the same error as "come by and find my corners, with a metal detector"...
Jus sayin...
If you really want to see a bad case of this, the Corps of Engineers on the lakes they are in charge of have been known to let the Boundary Maintenance Contract to the same guys who pick up the garbage from the parks.
Bushwhacker, post: 417952, member: 10727 wrote: If you really want to see a bad case of this, the Corps of Engineers on the lakes they are in charge of have been known to let the Boundary Maintenance Contract to the same guys who pick up the garbage from the parks.
I can't speak for other districts but in the USACE district I am in an LS flags or lathes the line with intervisible points so that the parks workers can do yearly maintenance (brushing and clearing) on their boundaries. It is ultimately being overseen by an LS though.
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As a licensed engineer that does lots of mapping work (legal in La for engineers), I would never dream of touching anything related to boundary surveying. I don't know the first thing about it and if you get it wrong, bad things will happen. I don't understand why people stray so far outside their lane. If you want to offer boundary surveying hire a PLS. Seems pretty simple to me. Am I missing something here??
Maine is also similar in that the Board will not go after other disciplines for unlicensed practice. The problem is the public doesn't understand what they aren't getting with this service and the foresters don't care. For what its worth have NYAPLS write a letter to that company or maybe put a PSA in the paper. If they changed that one ad to remove Line location, that would be better. This is fraud and no one within State Government seems to care until someone is "harmed".
Unfortunately this is just another case of another "profession" taking away a piece of our business. In Maine there are permits being sent to the state for building approval using "Not boundary Surveys" showing boundaries, setbacks, and proposed buildings and leachfields, being done Site Evaluators.
Trust them as they are "the experts," more so than the guys with the credentials.
