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Southern Chapter Lahontan

Update Chapter Update

By: Erik Denman, PLS
By: Eric C. Sage, PLS
First of all, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year! 2024 looks The Lahontan Chapter ended 2023 with a very enjoyable holiday
pretty good so far, and I wish the same for each of you. Changes dinner, drinks, and games at South 40. A much-needed night of
are happening, and plenty is going on within the survey commu- fun with our fellow surveyors. We started the year on January
nity. Our first chapter meeting of this year was held on January 24 with our first chapter meeting; unfortunately, our speaker
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18 at a great new venue, Il Toro El Capra, for dinner. Our NALS had to cancel due to snow falling over the Donner Summit. This
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President, Todd Enke, spoke to us about what to expect in the is a good reason for canceling; we all love our snow up here this
coming year and some of the current hot topics. After a great time of year. It allows us to get out of the office to get a powder
meal at a very reasonable cost, we had a raffle for some exciting day. Professor Mike Mustafa Berber from California State Uni-
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tool-related items. Thank you to our sponsors, WMK Surveying versity, Fresno, has graciously agreed to return for our April 10
and Aerotech Mapping. We couldn’t have done this without your Chapter meeting. Many of the January 24th meeting attendees
support! We are heading back to Il Toro El Capra for our Febru- expressed their excitement to hear Professor Berber speak on
the ASPRS Positional Accuracy Standards. Todd Enke kindly filled
ary lunch meeting on Thursday, the 22 to hear Dr. Simms from Professor Berber’s spot and gave us an update at the State Level
nd,
CSN speak on the new surveying program they are launching for the Nevada Association of Land Surveyors.
in the Fall if all goes well. Don’t miss this, and encourage your
techs and up-and-comers to check it out. At the January meet- We quickly had our February meeting on the 1 to accommodate
st
ing, I challenged the other professionals to buy lunch for a tech the State Board meeting held at the Silver Legacy, which was
to get them involved and introduce them to what was happening geared towards the 5-year strategic plan. The 5 year strategic
in SNALS. I’ve personally only heard from one of my techs so far, plan plays an extremely important role in guiding the surveying
but if they both want to go, I’ll pay for both. It is hard to argue profession to promote its growth and transition into the future.
when this lunch costs only $25. On that topic, I want to thank Jon My hat goes off to all those who attended and volunteered their
Wooten once again for finding this restaurant. They are reason- time to help promote and protect our profession. The Southern
able and extremely accommodating, not to mention the atmo- Chapter (SNALS) joined us along with the NALS State Board
sphere and great food. Officers at our meeting. Nancy Almanzan, past president 2023,
swore in the Lahontan Chapter Officers. Will Rasid with Pheonix
Looking forward, in March is the Western Regional Survey Con- LiDAR Systems gave a great presentation on LiDAR Systems
ference, where we will host five states (NV, AZ, CA, NM, and WY) integrated with drones and the different sensors available. Being
and the Western Federation of Professional Surveyors (WFPS) at the first to see a project of complete scans by aerial and terres-
our new location, the Horseshoe (formerly Bally’s) for this 4-day trial sensors of Alcatraz was sure surprising and an interesting
event, you don’t want to miss this. Here are some of the events treat for those who attended.
for the year to look forward to: membership meetings in April, Moving on to the rest of the year, we have exciting speakers
May, Sept, Oct & Nov, and keep an eye on your emails for details; planned and are continually nailing down the details of each
SNALS Golf Tournament on June 8 at Boulder Creek, look for speaker. We already have two events planned this year and
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more information coming soon; in July or August will be a Break- would like to see many of you there. “Go Reno Aces, bring down
fast Roundtable event, good for PDH’s; the SNALS Picnic will be the Las Vegas Aviators”. Come join us at the Greater Nevada Field
in the Fall and coordinated with a survey related event; and to to watch the Aces bring down the Aviators on July 26 . We will
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end the year in style, our Christmas party will be on December 6 be at the Double Play Deck with food and drinks; please bring the
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at The Retreat on Charleston Peak (formerly the Mt Charleston kids and prepare for some fireworks. The Lahontan Chapter will
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Hotel). be hosting its Golf Tournament on August 30 at Lakeridge Golf
Course. Plan on coming out to have fun, hit some holes in some,
What hasn’t changed is our outreach committee already has and make sure you bring your sunblock. Keep an eye on your
many events planned this year, with more in the works. As an emails for the evite registrations.
organization, we are getting more involved with career fairs and
continuing presentations at schools, academies, and groups that
include our target audience. This consists of the Trigstar compe-
tition, where high schoolers take a timed national trigonometry-
based test to win cash prizes and represent our state. We are al-
ways looking for sponsors for the prize money for these events.
Please reach out if you are interested. Warm bodies are always
welcome, with multiple events going on; even if you volunteer
just to work one, it helps greatly, and you’ll be rewarded with
helping the next generation of surveyors!

I’m always just an email away if you have any concerns or
ideas to share; you can reach me here:
EDenman@GCWEngineering.com.
Your humble President

30 The Nevada Traverse Vol.51, No.1, 2024