CONTACT: Dorothy Calegari
California
Land Surveyors Association
(707)
578-6016
WHAT: Members of
the media will gather for a dedication ceremony and learn about California’s
Center of Population
WHO: Local and
regional media outlets
Local officials
California Land Surveyors Association
California Department of Transportation (CalTrans)
National Geodetic Survey (NGS)
California Spatial Reference Center (CSRC)
WHEN: Saturday,
October 16, 2004, 1:00 PM
WHERE: Roadside rest area along
southbound Interstate 5 in Kern County
BACKGROUND: The
U.S. Census Bureau recently completed the compilation and analysis of the 2000
decennial census data. Until the completion of this analysis not many people
had ever heard of Buttonwillow, California.
Buttonwillow, an agricultural community located approximately 30 miles
west of Bakersfield near the junction of State Highway 58 and Interstate 5, has
become known as California’s “Center of Population”.
If you put the entire California population of 33,871,648 on a teeter-totter, the Center of Population would be the balance point, assuming California was flat and everyone weighed the same. This is many miles from the state’s geographic center and has a special significance. The Center of Population is an indication of where the State is headed.
The California Land Surveyors Association
(CLSA), in cooperation with the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), California
Spatial Reference Center (CSRC), and California Department of Transportation
(CalTrans) have set a commemorative geodetic control monument at the
Buttonwillow roadside rest area along southbound Interstate 5 in Kern County.
To commemorate this event, a dedication ceremony
has been scheduled at the monument site for October 16, 2004 at 1:00 PM. This event provides an opportunity to
showcase improvements in Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, the
adaptation of that technology by Land Surveyors, and the ability to develop
cooperative initiatives between the private sector, federal, state and local
surveying and mapping professionals.
For further information contact CLSA at (707)
578-6016 or by email to clsa@californiasurveyors.org