Federal agencies get the job done
For more than 50 years, Berntsen has worked alongside federal agencies to provide useful and quality products. From monuments that can be set in wetlands to RFID markers that integrate with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), federal agencies rely on Berntsen to deliver quality products that help them fulfill their missions.
See us at booth 830 at the Esri FedGIS Conference on February 13-14, 2024
In partnership with Esri, Berntsen is looking forward to demonstrating how InfraMarker RFID can help federal agencies better manage their diverse assets at the upcoming Esri FedGIS Conference. Stop by booth 830 to see how the InfraMarker RFID App for ArcGIS can help you identify, verify and update data for any type of asset in the field with a simple scan. Anything (even underground) that can be marked with an RFID tag can connect to ArcGIS for accurate identification and management. We look forward to seeing you there!
Federal Agencies – partnering with industry to get the job done
Federal agencies are key to maintaining a safe, stable, and thriving nation. From the Department of Defense, that protects Americans at home and abroad, to the Department of Interior that manages America’s vast public lands, to NASA, tasked with exploring the unknown for all the citizens of our planet, federal agencies provide the structure and do the work that makes our country thrive.
One thing these agencies have in common is that they manage many types of assets across vast spaces. From ensuring that gas pipelines are built and operated safely, to marking out trails in national parks, to building dams, highways and runways, these agencies rely on the private sector for products and technologies that help get more done with fewer resources.
Since the foundation of our country, federal agencies have quietly been getting the job done, ensuring stability and growth. This vital structure didn’t happen overnight, and it’s interesting to see the evolution of how these agencies developed.
Department of Defense (DOD)
The DOD is America's largest government agency, with more than 2,870,235 employees and service members. Tracing its roots back to pre-Revolutionary times, the department has evolved with our nation.
The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps were established in 1775, to support the American Revolution. In 1789, Congress created the War Department, responsible for both the Army and Navy until the founding of a separate Department of the Navy in 1798. After World War II, the War Department was reorganized and by 1949, the command structure was unified, and the Department of Defense was created.
Today, the DOD has four branches (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard) with the Marines organized under the Navy, and the new Space Force organized under the Air Force. The branches are made up of 34 agencies, including the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; and divisions including the US Army Corps of Engineers. Additionally, two organizations are staffed with uniformed service members but don’t report to the Secretary of Defense. These include the Public Health Service Corps (reporting to the Surgeon General who reports to the Assistant Secretary of Health in the Health and Human Services Department) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, (NOAA), reporting to the Secretary of Commerce[1]. Interestingly, the NOAA includes the National Geodetic Survey, our oldest scientific agency. In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson founded the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (as the Survey of the Coast) to provide nautical charts to the maritime community for safe passage into American ports and along our extensive coastline[2].
Berntsen has been serving the DOD for decades. In fact, it was a request from the DOD that sparked a new way of creating survey markers.
The first logo marker in cast aluminum.
Back in the late 1970s, the DOD asked Berntsen if the company could create survey disks for a project in Saudi Arabia. The catch was that the disks needed to include Arabic text and the country’s coat of arms -- a palm tree and crossed swords. Back then, the lettering on survey disks was created using zinc letters glued to a wooden pattern. No Arabic zinc letters were available, and there was no way to include artwork on a disk without going through an expensive and time-consuming engraving process. Long story short, by adapting paste-up and letterpress printing processes to metalwork, Berntsen created the first survey markers using Arabic lettering and illustrations. Today, our survey markers are used across many federal agencies.
Read the story of the first logo marker in American Surveyor.
The Department of Interior (DOI)
Although the idea of a Department of Interior was originally considered in the very first congress in 1789, but instead created the Department of State. However, after the Louisiana Purchase (In 1803) and the lands acquired in the Mexican-American War (1848), it became clear that the vast lands required direct management, rather than being parceled out to other agencies to manage.
Appalachian Trail Marker for the National Park Service
In 1848, the Secretary of the Treasury Robert J Walker did a comprehensive review of the duties of the agencies under his control and other agencies throughout the federal government. He determined that the General Land Office, along with the Indian Affairs Office (in the War Department), The Patent Office (in the State Department), and the pension offices (in the War and Navy departments), had little in common with their (respective) departments. He suggested that they be moved into a new department and went about drafting a bill to accomplish his objective. On March 3, 1849, the legislation was approved by the Senate, thus creating a cabinet agency known as the Department of the Interior (DOI). Subsequently, Interior functions expanded to include the census, regulation of territorial governments, exploration of the western wilderness, and management of the D.C. jail and water system.
Over time, additional functions have been added to and removed from the DOI’s management. Those added include: the US Geological Survey, 1879; the Bureau of Reclamation, 1902; the Bureau of Mines, 1910; the National Park Service, 1916; the US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1940; and the Bureau of Land Management, 1946.
Responsibilities have been moved to other departments. In 1925, the Patent Office was transferred to the Department of Commerce. In 1930, the Bureau of Pensions was transferred to the Veterans Administration[3].
Nevertheless, the purview of the DOI is massive. For example, one of its entities, the Bureau of Land Management oversees 245 million acres of public lands, manages 30% of the nation’s mineral resources, and contributes $1.2 billion annually in economic contributions, such as solar and wind power and geothermal energy[4].
Navajo Nation bronze cadastral survey marker
Another service, the National Park Service, includes 428 areas covering more than 85 million acres in every state, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. These areas include national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House[5].
Over the years, Berntsen has supported the DOI by delivering innovative and quality products for decades. From thousands of monuments for the Bureau of Land Management, to custom bronze markers for the Navajo Nation to markers for the National Park Service, to RFID-enabled asset marking, Berntsen has been supporting federal agencies since its inception.
Department of Transportation (DOT)
Brochure for the first lightweight magnetic aluminum alloy monument.
The Department of Transportation is a newer executive agency, created during the Johnson administration in 1967, reporting directly to the President. The agency coordinates funding and manages aviation, rail, highway, public transit, hazardous pipelines and other functions involved in the safe transit of people and goods[6].
A request from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WISDOT) triggered the invention that built Berntsen. Back in the early 1970s, Peter Berntsen heard about the need for a lighter, more portable survey monument to be used by WISDOT. As owner of Berntsen Cast products, Peter was in the position to solve the problem. With the help of a metallurgist at the University of Wisconsin, Berntsen developed a corrosion-resistant, aluminum-alloy magnetic monument weighing just 8.5 pounds. This innovative monument (the W-1B) proved to be so durable and popular that it established Berntsen as the leader in marking the infrastructure of the world.
Berntsen – providing the right tools at the right time
Over the years, the DOD, DOI, DOT and their bureaus and services have all relied on Berntsen to fulfill their missions - including the US Forest Service, the US Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Reclamation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US Geological Survey, the National Park Service, NASA, and many more.
Berntsen markers delineate the borders of national parks, and our Carsonite trail markers help citizens safely enjoy scenic trails. Berntsen offers a full toolbox for right-of-way management, from utility posts and decals to metal markers to passive RFID tagging. Our InfraMarker Connected RFID links any type of physical asset to GIS, streamlining the identification, tracking and management of everything from pipelines to dinosaur fossils.
See us at the FedGIS Conference!
In partnership with Esri, Berntsen is looking forward to demonstrating how InfraMarker RFID can help federal agencies better manage their diverse assets at the upcoming Esri FedGIS Conference. Stop by booth 830 to see how the InfraMarker RFID App for ArcGIS can help you identify, verify and update data for any type of asset in the field with a simple scan. Anything (even underground) that can be marked with an RFID tag can connect to ArcGIS for accurate identification and management. We look forward to seeing you there.