Federal Land Intelligence Report for Oil & Gas

You are evaluating a lease prospect in Fremont County, Wyoming. The legal description is T14N R8W Sec 22, Sixth Principal Meridian. Before your company commits to drilling, you need answers: Is there an existing BLM mineral lease on this Section? Are there active mining claims? What is the wildfire risk score? Does the parcel overlap a protected area or a FEMA flood zone?

Getting those answers normally means checking four or five separate federal portals — BLM MLRS for mineral leases, BLM LR2000 for mining claims, ONRR for production revenue, USGS PAD-US for protected area status, FEMA NFHL for flood zones, and USFS Fireshed Registry for wildfire risk.

Township America's Federal Land Intelligence Report pulls all seven data layers into a single response, keyed to one PLSS legal description.

How the Report Works

The Federal Land Intelligence Report is available through the Township America API and the report UI at /app/report. You provide a PLSS legal description, and the report returns structured data across seven federal layers:

• Mineral leases (BLM MLRS) — active, expired, and pending lease records on the Section
• Mining claims (BLM) — lode, placer, and mill site claims
• Production revenue (ONRR) — federal royalty and production data tied to the parcel
• Protected areas (USGS PAD-US 4.0) — national parks, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, and other designations that restrict surface use
• Grazing allotments (BLM) — active grazing permits that may affect surface access negotiations
• Flood zones (FEMA NFHL) — FEMA flood hazard designations for the parcel
• Wildfire risk (USFS Fireshed Registry) — wildfire exposure and risk classification

A single API call returns all seven layers:

GET /api/report?description=T14N R8W Sec 22, Sixth Principal Meridian

The response includes summary fields like report.lease_status, report.mining_claims_count, report.flood_zone, report.wildfire_risk_score, and report.pad_us_designation — structured data you can feed directly into your land database or internal review workflow.

What Oil & Gas Teams Check First

Mineral Lease Status

The first question on any federal land prospect: is this Section already leased? The report's mineral lease layer pulls BLM MLRS data and tells you whether existing leases are active, expired, or pending. If a competitive lease sale is upcoming, the report surfaces that too. Landmen running title on federal acreage can confirm lease status without logging into MLRS separately.

Production Revenue

For Sections with existing production, the ONRR layer shows federal royalty data. This matters when you are evaluating an infill drilling opportunity or assessing offset production. Instead of searching ONRR's reporting portal by county or operator, the report ties revenue data directly to the PLSS Section you are researching.

Protected Area and Surface Restrictions

Not every Section on federal land is available for development. The USGS PAD-US 4.0 layer identifies whether the parcel falls within a national park, wilderness area, wildlife refuge, or other protected designation. A Section that overlaps a wilderness study area has a very different permitting path than one on open BLM land. The report surfaces this before you invest time in a full title workup.

Grazing allotments also affect surface access. If an active grazing permit covers the Section, your surface use agreement negotiations will need to account for the existing permittee's rights.

Flood Zones and Wildfire Risk

Environmental risk data affects both permitting timelines and insurance requirements. The FEMA flood zone designation tells you whether the parcel sits in a Special Flood Hazard Area — relevant for pad siting and access road design. The USFS wildfire risk score flags Sections in high-exposure firesheds where BLM may require additional fire mitigation measures in your APD.

The report includes both layers automatically so they do not become surprises at the permitting stage.

Who Uses This Report

• Landmen researching federal lease prospects before nominating acreage for a BLM competitive lease sale
• Title examiners confirming federal encumbrances as part of a title opinion on federal minerals
• Operations teams evaluating surface constraints, flood exposure, and wildfire risk before selecting a drill pad location
• Regulatory coordinators assembling environmental data for APD filings and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews

Getting Started

The Federal Land Intelligence Report is a Pro+ feature. Upgrade to Pro+ to access the API endpoint and the report UI.

• API: GET /api/report?description={PLSS legal description} — returns structured JSON across all seven layers
• UI: Visit /app/report, enter a legal description, and view the report interactively

If your team processes federal land data at scale, the batch conversion tool handles bulk PLSS lookups alongside single-section reports.

For a deeper look at how PLSS legal descriptions fit into oil and gas workflows — from APD filing to field operations — see the PLSS for Oil & Gas industry guide.