Specifications for descriptions of land

The Bureau of Land Management is the Nation's surveyor and maintains extensive current and historical information about land ownership in the United States. Most titles to land, public or private, begin with a land description established by an original cadastral survey. Persons preparing land descriptions must be knowledgeable of the requirements for the various types of land descriptions. They must use the proper format, terms, and phrases and clearly state the intent, with qualification, to ensure the content of the land description is free of ambiguity. The Specifications provide guidance for writing accurate boundary descriptions and locations by survey, the form and arrangement to be followed for Executive and public land orders and proclamations, and examples of boundary descriptions.