Who We Are

HISTORY OF THE ASPLS

In the fall of 1959 public hearings were held by the “Territorial Board of Engineers and Architects Examiners” to review the new laws governing the engineering and architectural professions as Alaska moved from a Territory to a State. The new law, as proposed by non-surveyor professions, would have virtually eliminated the field of practice of the professional land surveyor. A few land surveyors recognized this and acted to preserve professional land surveying in Alaska.

Letters were sent to all land surveyors in the Territory calling for a Saturday afternoon meeting in Anchorage. The Alaska Society of Professional Land Surveyors (ASPLS) was organized from the nearly thirty people who attended that initial meeting.  The ASPLS acted quickly to inform the Board and other societies of their concerns. Progress on the law was halted until the ASPLS’s input could be incorporated.

The newly formed ASPLS legislative committee worked with the “Territorial Board of Engineers and Architects Examiners” and other interested groups to better the engineering professions and to encourage cooperation between engineers, architects, and land surveyors. Our current law is a direct outcome of these efforts.

The Alaska Society of Professional Land Surveyors continues to exist as a common interest group to promote the public welfare through promoting the professional practice of land surveying, through advocating for education, new technology, cooperation with each other and other professionals, and for the advancement of our profession. We strive to serve the public and to guide others who are interested in the profession of land surveying.

ASPLS OBJECTIVES & PURPOSES

The ASPLS constitution states that the objectives and purposes of the Society are as follows:

1. To provide a mutual benefit organization not operated for profit and to promote social and professional intercourse among the Surveyors in the State of Alaska and in connection therewith to organize and admit to membership Registered Professional Land Surveyors entitled to practice under the laws of the State of Alaska, or Licensed Professional Land Surveyors, admitted to practice under the laws of any other state in the United States.

2. To advance Land Surveying knowledge and practice and to provide a means for cooperative action by its members on matters beyond the scope of their individual endeavors.

3. To promote the public welfare, to provide means for more effective public service, to foster public recognition of the Land Surveying profession, and to cooperate with other organizations having similar objectives.

4. To assist the Land Surveying profession in maintaining proper and fair standards of ethics and practices.