Regulations last checked for updates: Nov 25, 2024

Title 43 - Public Lands: Interior last revised: Sep 06, 2024
§ 2569.501 - What will the BLM do with my application after it is received?

After your application is deemed received in accordance with § 2569.411, the BLM will take the following steps:

(a) The BLM will enter your selection onto the Master Title Plat (MTP) to make the public aware that the land has been segregated from the public land laws.

(b) The BLM will then determine whether the selection includes only available Federal lands or if the selection conflicts with any other applicant's selection. The BLM will also review its records and aerial imagery to identify, to the extent it can, any valid existing rights that exist within the selection.

(c) The BLM may make minor adjustments to the shape and description of your selection to match existing property boundaries, roads, or meanderable waterbodies, or to reduce the number of corners or curved boundary segments. The BLM will attempt to retain the acreage requested in the selection, but the adjustment may cause a reduction or addition in the acreage (not to exceed 160 acres).

(d) After any adjustments have been made, the BLM will send you a Notice of Survey to inform you of the shape and location of the lands the BLM plans to survey. The Notice of Survey will include:

(1) Your original land description;

(2) The adjusted land description plotted onto a Topographic Map and a MTP;

(3) Imagery of your original land description with the adjusted land description projected onto it;

(4) a Draft Plan of Survey; and

(5) A list of valid existing rights that the BLM has identified within the selection.

(e) The Notice of Survey will provide you an opportunity to challenge, in writing, the Draft Plan of Survey of the adjusted land description within 60 days of receipt of the BLM's notice. If no challenge is received within 60 days, the BLM will deem the Draft Plan of Survey to have been accepted.

(f) The BLM will finalize the Plan of Survey based on the Draft Plan of Survey in the Notice of Survey or the adjustment you provide pursuant to paragraph (e) of this section.

(g) The BLM will survey the selection based on the Plan of Survey.

(h) After survey, the BLM will mail you a document titled Conformance to Plat of Survey. That document will:

(1) Show the selection as actually surveyed;

(2) Plot the survey onto imagery; and

(3) If you found an error in the way the BLM surveyed the selection based on the Plan of Survey, provide an opportunity to dispute the survey in writing within 60 days of receipt of the Conformance of Plat of Survey. If no notice of dispute is received within 60 days, the BLM will deem the survey to have been accepted.

(i) The BLM will issue a Certificate of Allotment. No right or title of any sort will vest in the selection until the Certificate of Allotment is issued.

(j) If an application is rejected for any reason, the BLM will remove the corresponding selection from the MTP to make the public aware that the land is no longer segregated from the public land laws.

authority: 43 U.S.C. 1629g(e)
cite as: 43 CFR 2569.501