Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by BirdDawg, plain ole' idiot on April 23, 2009 at 15:48

Kitty,
Thats too funny, I was reading the post on "snakes" and I thought you discussion said "ribbons on snakes".
But back to your question, the ribbons on stakes, and the different colors, mean something to the people that set them and the possible contractors that use them. In North Desoto I would imagine there are a large amount of surveyors stakes with all colors of flagging on them. Probably some stakes that are just surveying "control points" that have no meaning to anyone except the surveyors. And the you will have stakes marking drill pads, access roads, and pipelines. And any other things that may need to be marked regarding gas exploration. The stakes in the middle of the median of Hwy. 171 could possibly have to do with highway construction or the planning for future highway reconstruction. Just a guess, I have no idea what is going on on Hwy 171.

To make a long story short, which I have already failed to do, survey stakes can have many different meanings, and the color of the flagging has no particular meaning.

Sometimes you can read if there is any writing on the stakes, and it may give you an indication of their purpose.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by buckmaster on April 23, 2009 at 16:16

i talked to the seismic surrvey people and they said the orange ribbons and stakes were they going to drill a 60 foot hole and put a charge in it. they were going to be about 220 feet apart running east to west. the pink ribbons were their lines where they record the shock when they set the charges off by radio frequency. the white and blue and orange are for access routes.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Spring Branch,mineral owner on April 23, 2009 at 23:21

The white and blue , and often the orange will have Dawson Geophysical printed on them. Buckmaster described them accurately.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Randy on April 23, 2009 at 16:55

Different operators have different standards for different colors. Blue may mean wetlands, or it may be red somewhere else. You'll see a lot of pink. Pink means, uh, anything. lol. If you see it kind of 'splayed everywhere' it probably means 'turn here'.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Raybies on April 23, 2009 at 23:33

CHK has a color code, I would imagine most other companies do as well. The specifics I don't know about.

In a traditional sense, here is the typical color breakdown.

Green - Sanitary Sewer
Blue - waterline (watermain)
Yellow - Gas (or petroleum)
Orange - construction staking (also fiber optic)
Red - electric
Pink - Survey control (typically includes property corners, also common for wetland delineation)
White - 'limits'

They also make a "checkered" pattern flagging that could mean anything. Then one could use any mixture of the colors (i.e. CHK has blue AND orange ribbon on their pipeline PI's when constructing a new line).

As someone previously stated, color isn't as important as the writing on the stakes. A blank stake down a median is probably for some type of feasibility study that isn't being made public. Or it could simply mark the center of construction for the roadway. You just never know. :)

Hope this helps,
~Raybies

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by M. Mcwilliams on April 24, 2009 at 0:55

I don't know about Hwy 171, but on Stonewall-Frierson road, stakes are being placed by surveyors who are planning the road work. DeSoto Parish has allocated a good deal of money for road (re)construction on many of the roads that are taking the brunt of the truck traffic.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they won't tear up the blackberry bushes that I pick from each year, at least not until after they are finished producing.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by kittycatmama on April 24, 2009 at 1:48

The raw wood stakes in median of Hwy 171 have markings that say 11,500, 13,500 etc. I wonder if perhaps those will be seismic points. Maybe it is just road construction. Time will tell

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by The_Baron on April 24, 2009 at 2:51

Those #'s are probally refer to a specific point in the engineering plans called stations.

• ▶ Reply