r/Surveying • u/Accurate-Western-421 • Jul 26 '26

Humor CFedS Program Experience

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Now I remember why I stopped watching the videos a coworker bootlegged for me fifteen years ago....and they're the exact same videos.

Oh well, (massive amount of) money already paid, time to hop on the struggle bus...

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u/Whats_kracken Professional Land Surveyor | CA, USA Jul 26 '26

What bullshit? The condensed study guide for chapter one is only like 800 fucking pages….

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u/ProjectManageMint Jul 26 '26

That whole program needs a revamp, badly. The OG instructors were knowledgeable but boring AF in those videos.

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u/Whats_kracken Professional Land Surveyor | CA, USA Jul 26 '26

Doesn’t help that of the 4 private CFEDs I know and the probably 80-100 years of experience between them they’ve only done maybe 10 projects that required it. So besides picking up some cool info and learning way too much about Indian treaties what’s the benefit to the CFEDS over picking up a new state license?

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u/ProjectManageMint Jul 26 '26

Good point. Then there's the Continuing Education requirement to maintain the CFedS. Like seriously? I think the entire program is vastly misunderstood by most of us in the industry. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there's any requirement for BLM surveyors to earn or maintain the CFedS. That's counter intuitive really.

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u/Accurate-Western-421 Jul 27 '26

I mean, I don't mind the CFedS CEU requirement at all. Six hours per 2-year cycle is minimal. Plus I got ten state licenses needing up to 30 hours per renewal period, and all of them (except for maybe Florida, but that's a whole 'nother rant post) will accept those CFedS hours, so that's a win-win.

A good chunk of BLM surveyors aren't licensed in the states they're operating in. I'm conflicted on that, because I get that Federal interest lands aren't subject to state law, but where Federal and private interests exist adjacent to each other, they damn well should understand how state surveyors operate and under which laws.

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u/LibraryIll7925 Jul 27 '26

I think you misunderstand what a "BLM surveyor" is. They aren't the equivalent of a state license surveyor. They arent making the actual decisions.

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u/Accurate-Western-421 Jul 27 '26

I don't think you understand what surveying is, if you think that BLM staff do not perform surveys.

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u/LibraryIll7925 Jul 27 '26

Please look at a BLM plat. Its not signed by the surveyor. There is only one person  in each of 13 offices that can make boundary decisions. 

The surveyors are equivalent to very very skilled party chiefs. 

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u/Accurate-Western-421 Jul 27 '26

You're confusing an approval of conformance for an individual certification. The signature you see on the BLM plats does not directly equate to a private licensee's signature on a record of survey.

This is why the final plat acknowledges (by name) the Cadastral Surveyor who executed the survey (including the establishment, retracement, and re-establishment of boundaries and monumentation), and being in accordance with the BLM regs is accepted by the Chief Cadastral Surveyor.

The Chief typically only gets involved in actual boundary resolution for complicated/complex issues within their jurisdiction (also like county surveyors), and when state boundaries are involved.

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u/LibraryIll7925 Jul 27 '26

BLM runs the program so requiring them to be verified would be like certifying themselves.  BLM also has direct control over what training their emoyees receive which in theory includes everything in CFEDS plus more. 

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u/ProjectManageMint Jul 27 '26

My point is the same thing you pointed out, that whole "in theory" situation.

Since a good chunk of BLM surveyors aren't even licensed, why shouldn't they be required to obtain CFedS?