Trends Summer 2012 | Page 2

Survey project to aid military with planning for the future required a trip to the past by Kay Kruse-Stanton T he survey to determine the borders of the Wyoming Military Department’s Camp Guernsey Northern Training Area was bound to be challenging: approximately 65 miles of boundary in often rugged southeastern Wyoming terrain, harsh weather, and deteriorated or missing survey markers. Finding out that some of the late 1800s survey records were misleading was yet another complication. The key to the project’s success, said Lil Clabots, senior master planner for the Wyoming Army National Guard, was the quality of the communication between the Construction and Facilities Management Office (CFMO) and Ayres Associates, the firm retained to complete the work. “It was one of the smoothest projects I’ve worked on because of the consistency in communication,” she said. As a result of the six-month project, the Department received updated maps that will guide future land use decisions, said Lt. Col. Guy Beaudoin, director of the CFMO. “Our primary reason for the survey was to confirm our boundaries,” he said. “We knew some of the initial surveys 2│TRENDS had some issues. We found out that there were some shifts in property lines. You don’t want to second-guess those boundaries; we had to have reliable information.” The Camp’s 55,000-acre North Training Area is a valuable training ground for the Wyoming Army and Air National Guard units, as well as other military units. Property acquisitions over the last eight years expanded the Camp’s total holdings to about 80,000 acres. Between the Camp’s northern and southern training areas is a network of public highways, a community, and a park. Linda Clark, senior lands management specialist with the CFMO, said checks of county land records revealed discrepancies. From the beginning, Clabots served as the main point of contact for the CFMO, and Ayres Associates project manager Evelyn Ferneding held the same role for the surveyors. “Evelyn and I had a very good working relationship in that she knew that there was one point of contact. That’s what kept the project on track,” Clabots said.