This data set is known as Surface Management Agency (SMA) and was originally derived from the LAND data set produced by the Arizona State Land Dept., Arizona Land Resource Information System (ALRIS).

The LAND data set was first started in 1984 and updated in the spring 1988 by the State Land Department Forestry Division and ALRIS. The original PLSS data is from the Department of Transportation (ADOT) and was digitized at 1:100,000 scale. The data was then projected into ARC/INFO format and edited using the procedures from the ASLD 'Land Status Map Digitizing Procedure' guide. The data set covers the entire State of Arizona and includes surface management, the original plss, and county and state boundaries.

Changes in federal agencies are done through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). BLM incorporates the federal land changes such as the BLM, Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service, etc. BLM and State of Arizona surface management is updated approximately every six months in a cooperative effort with the Arizona State Land Department (ASLD

In 2011, the BLM contracted with Premier Data Services to conflate the SMA with the latest and more accurate PLSS know as the Cadastral National Spatial Data Infrastructure (CadNSDI) which is the most accurate PLSS available. This procedure has greatly improved the locational accuracy of the SMA. For purposes of simplicity, the BLM has also reduced the complexity of the data set by removing all data except for the surface management information.