Landowner Maps

Landowner maps can be a useful tool.  However, not all landowners have maps of their property.  They are usually made by someone (e.g. the current landowner or a previous owner) who has firsthand knowledge of the property.

These types of maps may be useful to achieve the following:

• Locate SMZs, streams, or existing crossings.
• Locate existing roads, or trails.
• Get a general idea of the location of items such as boundary lines, buildings on the property, or the location of the property itself.
• Locate unique landscape features that might need extra protection (e.g., cemeteries, wells, rock outcrops, caves, etc.)

Although these maps are usually made by a person with firsthand knowledge of the property, they may have some drawbacks:

• Maps are not usually not to scale.
• Maps may be outdated.
• Maps may be overly simplistic and lack important detail.
• Maps usually only include items which are important to the landowner, and may not include details which would be useful such as wet areas, topography, and soil types.