"Land Matters" - A Website With Tons of Interactive Maps

It's almost time to head for the hills in search of gold and other minerals and a new website called Land Matters is in the process of assembling links to a large and comprehensive collection of map resources.  Many of these will be of interest to prospectors and small-scale miners as they plan their outdoor adventures.

Among the currently available interactive maps on the site are the following:

Land Status Maps:

Users may choose a base map to add to the plain United States Map (World Street Map, Topo, or Aerial Photos) and then display land ownership and status by BLM, National Forest, National Parks, Wilderness, State, Master Title Plats and Supplements, the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), and Special Surveys.  Zooming in to a local area of interest works best before displaying the land status and other features.

Topo Map Downloads:

This section of the website shows all the available USGS topo maps in the selected area.  The current digital maps are available as are older historical scanned maps.  Clicking on a map of interest on the base map opens a window with links to download the map.  In the case of historical maps, the download link will bring up a list of available maps.  On working with this feature I noticed that not as many old maps are available as on the USGS topoView site but I expect the selection to improve as work on this resource continues.  Also available for download in this section are Forest Service Topo Maps and Coastal Survey Topo Maps.

Mining Claims Maps:

One section of particular interest to miners is the one showing mining claim locations.  Here users may display the locations of current mining claims drawn from the BLM's LR2000 system and download the BLM Serial Register Reports for any they choose.  They can also display the locations of old mines on the base map.  Also available here are the USGS Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS) reports on individual mines and claims as well as historical activity reports on individual mines.

Geology Maps:

Another section of special interest to miners is the one containing state geology maps.  These maps show the various rock types by different colors and symbols and detailed information on each is available by clicking on the particular area of the map you are interested in.

New Projects:

As mentioned earlier, this website is a work-in-progress and many exciting features are in the process of being created.  A few of these are maps showing meteorite falls, minerals, agriculture, recreation, and real-time conditions such as weather radar and infrared satellite data.  The developers of this service are also interested in hearing from users about additional types of maps that they would like to see.

So, head on over to the website, check it out (there are detailed instructions for getting the most use out of it), and sign up for their email newsletter to keep informed of the latest features being added.

Happy prospecting!