My wife's family land is a mess in that the legal parcels do not line up with the creek, road, and usage, among other problems. She and her brother divided it by parcels when settling their mother's estate, but she owns ~3 or 4 acres of his cornfield, etc. I would like to have it replatted so the parcels made sense.
My question is: if I talk them i to it, would it make sense to ask for a riparian boundary along the lowest channel of the rather deep creek?
I mostly see reference to riparian boundaries in connection with rivers, so don't know if that would be "normal" here.
Bill, here's a photo of a riparian boundary from my area. Definitely not a major river. As an intermittent stream, it has a clearly defined channel and enough flow to prevent the vibrant New England vegetation from taking root. It's stood the test of time as a boundary monument for well over 50 years.
@bill93 My question is: if I talk them i to it, would it make sense to ask for a riparian boundary along the lowest channel of the rather deep creek?
I would suggest having the surveyor topo the top of bank on each side and then calculate an average centerline based on that. That's probably what the adjoiners are actively occupying anyway, right? And that way the surveyor can set reference monuments 10 or 15 or however many feet away where they won't get washed out.
Canal companies take a regular beating for attempting to steal land. I have to say it tickles me pink to see it happen. It is unfortunate the most common accomplice The Surveyor) rarely gets taken to task.
My take on canals is simple. We cannot apply the laws written to deal with natural water bodies to artificial bodies just because they look and act a bit alike. When irrigation works are called for in a deed they are treated like any other artificial monument. The position at parcel creation controls. If the owner tolerates movement for the prescriptive period, easement rights may arise. This requires a specific fact pattern, and the boundary does not move as the easement rights ripen.
Boundaries controlled by canals require extensive research. The older the parcel, the more research you can expect to perform. You may find the original location cannot be found with certainty. Most jump straight from reading the deed to making that determination. They take land from one person and assign it to another. That's not surveying.
Ditches and canals are covered by statute here. There is a statutory easement granted, so it doesn't matter if they shift position, they are still inside the easement. But then water rights are a whole nuther subject for surveying. One interesting factoid is that if the ditch is buried and the conveyance is now transported through a pipe that pipe line needs an easement when the open ditch didn't.
@BStrand Gotcha. Understood on that. Historically surveyors have been seeking permanent monuments to be placed. However it contains you to be a struggle as no matter what we set it truly does not meet the permanent idea. I mean natural monuments were chosen as they seemed permanent but that rock outcrop can be bulldozed down or whatever that natural pond spill way changes over time. The tree is cut down or dies. The rebar is uprooted by a disc or plow. Or the fence guy. Moves or removes it while setting up a fence post. I reckon we will continue to do the better can with what we have and that’s all we can do.
That photo of the toe doesn't look like it's a contender for a "natural" monument call. If the landowner is building a fence it would be best to use it as the line. Lots of jogs in a fence means lots of expense building and buying material for brace panels. The builder will normally put the brakes on adding more braces than are needed. So the fence line will tend to "straighten" out as it gets built, the real world tends to slap people upside the head.
I've got to go do a BLA along a fence I staked in 1982. The landowner went out with me, the fencer went out too. They picked a line and I put in monuments and line points. Of course, the fencer who was there for two days helping to pick out a route built the fence in a different location. Next month after 42 years a portion of it will get pushed to the real fence from the proposed and monumented fence line, maybe someday the entire property line will get moved to the built fence location.
@thebionicman It is unfortunate the most common accomplice The Surveyor) rarely gets taken to task.
How so?
Seems like most of canals I come across haven't been mapped before. Until there are a couple records of where the canal actually is I'm not sure how you'd be able to tell if an irrigation entity was stealing land.
@MightyMoeThere is a statutory easement granted, so it doesn’t matter if they shift position, they are still inside the easement.
Same here. Occasionally a deed will call out a canal though and I think that's what bionicman is referring to.
If the landowner is building a fence it would be best to use it as the line.
Agree, but like I say didn't hear about it until after the fact.
There is a ton of evidence beyond recorded surveys. USDA began aerial surveys of Idaho in the 20s. The program continued for decades. Much of the data was passed to ISU and other universities and can be found on the internet. It is also common to find direct evidence of historical location on the ground. Old fences, buildings, crossing structures, etc. can be very helpful, especially when supported by the reliable testimony of longtime occupants.
The story I mentioned earlier is a prime example. The canal company attempted to eject a farmer for being 'in the easement'. They also whined and moaned about my survey for not centering the easement on the canal. Thier own map (1950's) showed the existing barn and fence on the edge of the easement. The evidence was overwhelming and they dropped it.
We have a duty to recover lines where they were established. That means gathering the evidence and evaluating it in light of the correct law.
I think most surveyors in this state would view that that as creating an unnecessary pin farm mess, myself included.
A pin farm is where you have a bunch of pins purporting to mark a single point. That is bad.
Having any number of pins (of record) along a line is just fine.
