We have added a new way to browse and explore permits: by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Administrative Area. To give context to this new feature, we wrote this handy explanation. Summary Nearly a quarter of a billion acres – about one-eighth of the landmass of the USA – is administered by the BLM. These public lands & resources contributed…
Salton Sea
Few locations so perfectly meld eerie and picturesque as the Salton Sea. Once a thriving beach escape, the Salton Sea was a historic lake bed that, through a fluke of engineering enjoyed a second life in the 50s. The lake has fluctuated between desert and lake for thousands of years depending on water flow replenishing the basin. In the interest of…
Understanding Townships
This entry focuses on a part of our earlier discussion, Understanding Location Data. For greater context on what we will be addressing, please read that post first. One of the more confusing aspects of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is the concept of “townships.” A “township” can refer to two different things. Both are part of the PLSS measurement system but have…
Salvation Mountain
Between the Salton Sea and Slab City, in the heart of the Colorado Desert, California, is the life’s work of one man that has drawn visitors and inspired a striking scene in the 2007 film “Into The Wild.” Salvation Mountain is an art installation that was continuously maintain by its creator, Leonard Knight, until he was committed to a nursing…
Understanding Location Data
Claims handled by the Bureau of Land Management are not mapped by latitude and longitude, as many maps now use. Instead, many of these claims harken back to an older form of surveying called the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), a measurement system that may seem confusing to the uninitiated, but was a great step forward in the time that it…
Welcome!
We are excited to have launched The Film Locations! There is a lot of filming that occurs across the US. While much of this is occurring on public lands, few people are able to discover the “who,” “what,” and “where” of public filming claims. Though this is a matter of public record, we aim to make it a matter of a simple search…