Public Land Survey System Boundaries

<i>From USGS:</i><div><br /></div><div><span style='color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: &quot;Source Sans Pro&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;'>The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is a way of subdividing and describing land in the United States. PLSS surveys, which are available for portions of land in </span><a href='https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/PLSS' rel='nofollow ugc' style='box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(29, 90, 171); font-family: &quot;Source Sans Pro&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;'>30 southern and western states</a><span style='color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: &quot;Source Sans Pro&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;'>, are made by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The PLSS </span><a href='https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/public-land-survey-system-plss' rel='nofollow ugc' style='box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(29, 90, 171); font-family: &quot;Source Sans Pro&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;'>typically divides land</a><span style='color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: &quot;Source Sans Pro&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;'> into 6-mile-square townships. Townships are subdivided into 36 one-mile-square sections. Sections can be further subdivided into quarter sections, quarter-quarter sections, or irregular government lots. PLSS was created to divide parcels of public land; it is not useful for the accurate location of points and should not be confused with coordinate systems like latitude/longitude, UTM, or the State Plane Coordinate System.</span></div>