How to Research Your Land's History · Notes

Notes and open questions for Dave and Bob

Written by AI These notes came with the draft and were written by AI. They are for the booklet’s two reviewers, not for its readers.

Covering note

Dave and Bob: here is a first draft for Bob to correct, built only from the four documents. I was least sure of the uncited Where to look lines in section 2 (mine, not Bob’s), how far section 3 should go on consent, whether section 4’s township-and-range explanation is plain enough, and the author line. Every quotation has been checked against its page by software, and separate AI readers, which did not write the draft, then checked every paraphrase against its page; open points are under Questions for Bob.

How the draft has been checked so far

Software checks every quotation, word for word, against the cited page of the cited document each time the site is put together: 78 of 78 match. On October 6, 2026, separate AI readers, which did not write the draft, checked every paraphrase against its cited page. None cited a wrong page and none was unsupported. Twenty-three said a little more than the page does, or dropped a qualifier, and were reworded to match the page. The Where to look lines are general suggestions that did not come from the documents; no one has checked them yet.

Questions for Bob

1. Cover. Question for Bob: author line wording, for example by Bob Zybach, PhD, or based on the research methods of Dr. Bob Zybach; and whether anyone else is credited for writing or editing
2. Section 2, Aerial photographs. Question for Bob: written in 2003, and repeated in the Tiller report in 2011 (p. 21); is this still the best place to start?
3. Section 3, Asking, and recording. Question for Bob: is a written agreement the right suggestion for landowners, and should the booklet offer a sample?
4. Section 3, Memory’s limits. Question for Bob: the thesis dates this cold spell to October 1955 on p. 68, and its Table 22 (p. 204) lists a major cold snap in 1956; are these the same event?
5. Section 5, Port Orford trails. Question for Bob: should Don Ivy, or the Coquille Indian Tribe, see this summary before it is published?
6. Section 2, all Where to look lines: please confirm or correct each one. The places listed are the drafter’s general suggestions (kinds of places and public agencies), not taken from your documents. In four entries a sentence with a citation adds a documented example: Archives (Tiller 2011, p. 14), Land surveys (Coquelle Trails 2013, p. 15), Aerial photographs (Great Fires 2003, p. 84) and Living memory (Thesis 1999, p. 51).

Bob: when you have read a section, you can mark it “Checked” or “Needs fixing”, with a note, in Bob’s office. Anyone can send a correction with “Report an error” at the foot of each section.

Decisions for Dave and Bob

Nothing below is settled. Each choice appears only in the cover block (and, for price, the section 6 slot); the body of the booklet says "this booklet" and does not change whichever option is chosen.

1. Title. Placement: cover; the same words go in the Word file’s title and page header.

• Option A: How to Research Your Land’s History
• Option A with subtitle: How to Research Your Land’s History, with a second line reading Landscape History Research: Methods & Applications
• Option B: Reading Your Land’s Past: A Practical Guide

2. Publisher. Placement: cover block only.

• NW Maps Co.: Published by NW Maps Co.
• Not yet decided, or none: Published by ____ (or drop the line)

3. Credits. Placement: cover block only.

• Both: In cooperation with Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project (ORWW) and Oregon Advocates for School Trust Lands (OASTL)
• ORWW only: In cooperation with Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project (ORWW)
• OASTL only: In cooperation with Oregon Advocates for School Trust Lands (OASTL)
• Neither: drop the line

4. Format. Placement: cover block only.

• PDF only: Available as a PDF.
• Print only: Available in print.
• Both: Available as a PDF and in print.

5. Price. Placement: cover block; the first option also touches the section 6 slot.

• Free with a Landscape History Summary: cover block line, Free with every Landscape History Summary. In the section 6 slot, the help line can then point readers to the Landscape History Summary (your wording).
• About $5 PDF / $20 print: cover block line, Price: $5 (PDF), $20 (print). Put in the exact amounts.
• Other: cover block line, Price: ____

Also to settle (not an open choice, but its placement is fixed): if the booklet names the Reference Desk, the name goes only in the cover block (for example, A methods companion to the ____ Reference Desk) and the section 6 slot.

The cover as drafted