Where You Can Legally Collect Rocks

The rules differ by who manages the land, and the differences are large — one boundary can separate free collecting from a federal offence. This is a working summary for the United States; verify locally before a trip, because individual units set their own restrictions on top of the general rules.

United States federal land

BLM and Forest Service land is where most rockhounding happens. The standard allowance is reasonable amounts of common rocks, minerals and petrified wood for personal, non-commercial use, using hand tools, without significant surface disturbance. BLM's petrified wood limit is 25 pounds plus one piece per day, up to 250 pounds per year.

National Parks prohibit collecting entirely. This includes picking up a pretty stone from a trail. There is no personal-use allowance.

Vertebrate fossils on any federal land require a permit under the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act, and permits go to qualified researchers depositing specimens in public repositories. This holds regardless of how ordinary the specimen looks, which is worth knowing before you pocket a bone fragment — see there is a fossil in my rock.

Active claims

BLM and Forest Service land can carry active mining claims, and collecting on a claim without permission is trespass on the claimant's rights even though the land is public and unfenced.

Claims are often unmarked in any way you would notice. Check LR2000 or the BLM's Mineral and Land Records System before working an area seriously, particularly anywhere with a history of production — which is exactly where the interesting material is.

State and private land

State land varies completely by state. Some state trust lands permit collecting with a permit; state parks usually prohibit it. There is no general rule.

Private land requires the landowner's permission, in advance, ideally in writing. Without it, collecting is trespass and in many states theft. "It was just lying there" is not a defence, and neither is an unfenced boundary.

Road cuts are a trap. The rock is often excellent and the right-of-way usually belongs to the state or the highway department, with collecting prohibited and stopping on the shoulder illegal regardless. A few states permit it; most do not.

Elsewhere

• Canada — provincial rules, generally more restrictive than the US. National and provincial parks prohibit collecting. Some provinces claim all fossils as Crown property.
• United Kingdom — nearly all land is privately owned and permission is required. Sites of Special Scientific Interest carry criminal penalties. The Fossil Collecting Code covers the classic coastal sites, and the Jurassic Coast has its own agreed code with a recording requirement for significant finds.
• Australia — state-by-state, with fossicking licences required in several states and readily available.
• Many countries — including China, Brazil, Mongolia, Italy and Greece — treat all significant fossils and some minerals as state property, with serious penalties for export. Do not put an interesting rock in your luggage abroad.

Collecting well

Beyond legality, the practices that keep sites open:

• Fill in what you dig. Sites get closed by holes, not by collectors.
• Take what you will actually keep. Bulk collecting that ends in a garage is what triggers limits.
• Leave gates as you found them, stay on established routes, and pack out everything.
• Do not undercut banks or work below unstable faces. Quarry and roadcut accidents are the main hazard in the hobby.
• Record locality data at the time. An unlabelled specimen loses most of its meaning, which is the same point made in preparing a rock for identification.

Finding somewhere

Local lapidary and mineral clubs are the best route by a wide margin. They hold access agreements with private landowners, know which claims are active, run field trips, and will tell you what a locality actually produces rather than what a forum post from 2009 claims it produces.

Fee-dig sites are the simplest legal option — you pay, you dig, you keep what you find, and the question of permission does not arise.