Federal Land Intelligence Report: 7 Data Layers for Any PLSS Section
Running federal land status on a PLSS section used to mean five separate portals. The Federal Land Intelligence Report returns all seven layers — mineral leases, mining claims, production revenue, protected areas, grazing allotments, flood zones, and wildfire risk — from one API call.
Running federal land status on a single PLSS section used to mean opening four or five different portals. BLM MLRS for lease status. ONRR for production revenue. USGS PAD-US for protected area designation. FEMA for flood zone. USFS Fireshed for wildfire exposure. Each database has its own query interface, its own format, its own quirks — and none of them talk to each other.
The Federal Land Intelligence Report changes that. Pass any PLSS legal description to the Township America API and you get a structured report across all seven federal data layers in a single response.
Seven layers, one call
The /api/v1/report endpoint pulls from BLM MLRS, ONRR, USGS PAD-US 4.0, FEMA NFHL, and the USFS Fireshed Registry — the same authoritative sources your team already consults, consolidated into one structured JSON response:
| Layer | Source | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Mineral leases | BLM MLRS | Active lease numbers, status, effective dates |
| Mining claims | BLM | Active and closed unpatented claims on the section |
| Production revenue | ONRR | Federal royalty revenue reported for the section |
| Protected areas | USGS PAD-US 4.0 | Wilderness, National Monument, or other federal designation |
| Grazing allotments | BLM | Allotment number, permittee, and grazing type |
| Flood zones | FEMA NFHL | AE, AO, X, or other FEMA flood zone classification |
| Wildfire risk | USFS Fireshed Registry | Risk score (0–100) at the section level |
A single HTTP GET:
GET /api/v1/report?description=T14N%20R8W%20Sec%2022%206th%20PM
Returns report.lease_status, report.mining_claims_count, report.flood_zone, report.wildfire_risk_score, report.pad_us_designation, and more. Structured JSON, ready to drop into any land management workflow.
The Federal Land Intelligence Report is a Pro-tier feature. See pricing →
A real section: T14N R8W Sec 22, Sixth Principal Meridian
Section 22, Township 14 North, Range 8 West of the Sixth Principal Meridian sits roughly 30 miles west-southwest of Lander, in Fremont County, Wyoming. This stretch of BLM-administered high desert comes up regularly in O&G lease negotiations, grazing renewals, and wind energy siting packages.
Running the Federal Land Intelligence Report on T14N R8W Sec 22 would surface: the active BLM mineral lease status covering the section, any unpatented mining claims on file, ONRR production revenue history if gas has been produced under a federal lease, the BLM grazing allotment assigned to this particular section, FEMA flood zone classification, and a wildfire risk score from the USFS Fireshed Registry — a real consideration in Fremont County, where summer fire conditions regularly produce high-severity burn exposure.
Before this endpoint, assembling that picture meant six separate sessions: MLRS, ONRR, PAD-US download, grazing allotment query, FEMA flood map lookup, and Fireshed search. One PLSS legal description as the common thread, six output formats to reconcile.
Who runs federal land intelligence reports
Landmen and title examiners doing title runsheets on federal mineral interests need lease status and mining claims data to identify encumbrances before a client executes a purchase or a lease. Pulling ONRR production data alongside that run can confirm whether a lease has been holding by production — relevant to lease expiration determinations. For the full APD workflow context, see how landmen use the PLSS API for APD workflows.
Oil and gas operators evaluating a new section need all seven layers before committing to a drilling location. Wildfire risk affects insurance underwriting and seasonal operations planning. Flood zone affects pad siting and stormwater permit requirements. Protected area designation can block federal APD approval entirely. The section-level detail this report provides fits directly into the pre-submission verification workflow described in PLSS for Oil & Gas Well Siting in 2026.
Renewable energy siting teams scoping federal land for solar or wind projects need PAD-US status, grazing allotments, and wildfire risk as part of any Section 106 or NEPA pre-application package. Discovering a wilderness study area designation weeks into desktop scoping wastes time the project schedule does not have. The report catches it in the first query. For more on federal land permitting for energy projects, see BLM Federal Land for Renewable Energy.
Environmental consultants preparing Phase I ESAs or biological assessments on federal parcels benefit from having flood zone and wildfire risk quantified at the Section level. Both are standard context for many federal environmental reviews, and having them structured and machine-readable saves hours of manual data collection.
The UI companion: /app/report
If you prefer a point-and-click workflow, the Federal Land Intelligence Report accepts any PLSS legal description and renders all seven layers in a formatted, printable report. No API integration required — just a Pro subscription and a legal description.
For teams that need to screen a prospect package before a lease sale — say, 40 sections across the Wind River Basin — the /api/v1/report endpoint lets you pass each legal description in sequence and collect structured JSON for the full package. Combined with the Township America API's batch conversion capabilities, it fits into any land department's existing data pipeline.
For historical context on the federal land records that back some of this data, the BLM GLO Records field guide covers how original survey plats connect to current CadNSDI data.
Getting started
The Federal Land Intelligence Report requires a Pro subscription. Upgrading from the free tier (50 conversions/month) gives you access to the report endpoint, unlimited conversions, batch processing, and the full Township America API.
The fastest way to try it: open /app/report, enter T14N R8W Sec 22, Sixth Principal Meridian, and see what seven federal databases say about that one section.