Where is it legal? Explore verdicts by place
Every place we've checked, 159 so far. Each verdict covers one hobby at one place and links to its rules, permits and primary sources. Rules last checked up to . The same data is available as a free download.
159 places
Glass Beach is a former city dump turned tourist landmark — and taking the sea glass home is technically prohibited under California's state park rockhounding rule, even though enforcement is close…
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Empty shells are unlimited on Sanibel with no permit.
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- AllowedSunset Beach & Higbee Beach (Cape May Diamonds)Sea Glass & Beachcombing · New Jersey · Public Beach
Collecting Cape May diamonds is allowed at privately owned Sunset Beach with no permit.
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Loose agates, jasper, and shells are legal to pocket at Agate Beach under Oregon's Beach Bill — up to a gallon a day.
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Loose agates, sea glass, and driftwood are legal to collect at Bandon Beach under Oregon's Beach Bill.
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Beachcombing for souvenirs is more restricted at Birch Bay State Park than most tourism guides suggest.
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Beachcombing is prohibited at Kalaloch — the same 36 CFR 2.1 blanket ban that covers every Olympic National Park beach.
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Beachcombing is prohibited at Ruby Beach — every rock, piece of sea glass and driftwood is protected under 36 CFR 2.1 inside Olympic National Park, and empty shells are limited to a handful per visit.
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Foraging is allowed in Mendocino National Forest for incidental personal use, capped at 1 gallon per person per month — the only Region 5 California forest in this queue with an explicit numeric…
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Personal-use foraging is allowed in Six Rivers National Forest at no charge for incidental amounts — but unlike Oregon forests just across the state line, there is no published gallon-per-day limit.
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Gathering berries, mushrooms and other edible plants for your own consumption needs no permit in Apalachicola National Forest: National Forests in Florida says so on its permits page, and publishes…
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Big Cypress National Preserve lets you pick berries, citrus fruits and bananas by hand for personal consumption, under the preserve's superintendent's compendium.
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Foraging is prohibited at Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park.
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Personal-use foraging of common edible plants and berries is allowed in Ocala National Forest for incidental quantities.
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Personal-use foraging is allowed in Osceola National Forest with no permit needed to gather edible material for your own consumption, according to National Forests in Florida (36 CFR § 223.279); no…
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No permit is needed to pick morels for your own table in the Huron-Manistee National Forests.
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Personal-use mushroom and plant foraging is allowed in Deschutes National Forest under USFS rules — 1 gallon per day free; commercial quantities require a free ranger-district permit.
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Mount Hood National Forest allows personal-use foraging of mushrooms, berries, and greens without a permit for quantities under 1 gallon per person per day.
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Personal-use foraging is allowed in Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest at no charge, up to 1 gallon per day without a permit.
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Foraging is allowed in Siuslaw National Forest — up to 1 gallon per day without a permit.
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Free personal-use foraging in Umpqua NF — 1 gallon per day, no permit needed.
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Willamette National Forest is one of the most productive and legally accessible foraging destinations in the Pacific Northwest.
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Foraging in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest requires a free-use permit obtained in person at a ranger district office before harvesting.
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Foraging is allowed on Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.
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Foraging is allowed in Olympic National Forest without a permit for personal use: 1 gallon of each mushroom species a year, and berries up to 1 gallon a day and 3 a year.
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Digging ramps needs no permit on the Monongahela, but personal use stops at two gallons per person — roughly 180 plants.
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Fossil collecting is prohibited across all of Garden Park Fossil Area — a BLM Area of Critical Environmental Concern where even invertebrate fossils, normally open to casual collecting on BLM land,…
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Every dinosaur track at Picket Wire Canyonlands is a vertebrate trace fossil, covered by PRPA's ban on casual collecting — this site is observation-only.
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Shark teeth need no permit on the Peace River; bone needs Florida's $5 fossil permit.
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Fossil shark teeth need no permit at Venice Beach.
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Miocene shark teeth may be collected from the beach at Calvert Cliffs State Park, but the cliffs that produce them are closed — climbing them or walking beneath them is prohibited, and collecting…
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- AllowedPurse State Park (Purse Area, Nanjemoy WMA)Fossil Hunting · Maryland · Wildlife Management Area
Shark-tooth hunting on the Potomac beach at Purse is allowed, and Maryland DNR promotes it.
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The BLM-administered lands in the Hell Creek area of northeastern Montana allow casual collection of invertebrate fossils and petrified wood under PRPA 2009 — 25 lbs/day, no permit.
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Fossil collecting is prohibited at the Judith River Formation exposures near Judith Landing — corrects the standard BLM assumption.
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Casual fossil collecting here runs through a private guided-dig program in Bynum, not free BLM land — Egg Mountain itself is closed to the public.
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Fossil hunting at Big Brook needs no permit for small groups, but Monmouth County and Colts Neck each set their own limits on the same creek.
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Fossil collecting is free at the Aurora Fossil Museum's two public pits, and everything you find is yours to keep — shark teeth and whale bone included.
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Shark teeth can be collected on the City of Folly Beach strand with no permit, but county rules bar removing materials at both county-run ends of the island.
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Fossil and shark-tooth collecting is prohibited at Huntington Beach State Park under S.C. Code § 51-3-145, even though South Carolina's own tourism materials list it as a top shark-tooth beach.
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Fossil collecting is prohibited at Badlands National Park under NPS regulations and PRPA 2009.
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Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry is a BLM-managed National Natural Landmark containing the densest concentration of Jurassic dinosaur fossils ever discovered — over 12,000 bones from 74 individuals…
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The Coyote Buttes permit lottery controls who can enter — it does not settle whether fossils can be collected.
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Fossil collection is strictly prohibited at Dinosaur National Monument under NPS regulations and the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act.
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Casual collection of invertebrate and plant fossils from the Green River Formation is allowed at Flaming Gorge NRA.
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The rules here changed in 2026.
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Casual collection of common invertebrate and plant fossils is allowed on open BLM land in the San Rafael Swell — up to 25 lb a day, personal use, no permit (43 CFR 49.810).
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Como Bluff is open for casual collection of invertebrate and plant fossils from the Sundance and Morrison Formations.
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All fossil collecting is prohibited at Fossil Butte National Monument under 36 CFR 2.1 — the federal casual-collection allowance that applies to nearby BLM land does not extend to National Park…
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The Green River Formation's famous Knightia fish are vertebrate material — casual collecting on open BLM land near Kemmerer does not include them, despite widespread mislabeling as an invertebrate…
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Casual collecting of invertebrate and plant fossils is allowed without a permit at the BLM's Lance Creek Fossil Site — but this exact drainage is the type locality for Triceratops and Torosaurus, and…
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Gold panning is allowed at Crow Creek Mine for a $39 adult fee, with no government permit, and you keep your gold.
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- AllowedNome Public Beaches (East & West Beach Public Mining Areas)Gold Panning · Alaska · State Land
Gold panning at Nome is allowed with no permit, but only in the surf below mean high tide inside the public mining areas.
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Panning is legal along 40 miles of the American River here, with no claims to trespass on — but the gold pan is the only tool you may legally put in the gravel.
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Recreational gold panning is allowed at the site where the California Gold Rush started — but only on the east side of the American River across the Mount Murphy Road bridge, and with hands and a pan…
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Hand-panning is free along the Arkansas River, but Cache Creek near Granite — the corridor's best-known site — has required a BLM permit since 2016.
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Hand-panning is free and unpermitted in Eleven Mile Canyon on the South Platte — this is Pike National Forest, not BLM land, and a day-use fee applies.
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Gold panning is free and needs no permit in most national forest streams around Dahlonega, using only a pan and a hand trowel.
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Hand panning is allowed, free, and unpermitted along the Boise River — and the stretch from Lucky Peak Dam to Star Road is specifically withdrawn from mineral entry by the Idaho Department of Lands,…
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Hand panning is allowed along the BLM-managed Clearwater River near Orofino with no permit.
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Hand-panning the upper Applegate River near Applegate Lake is free and unpermitted National Forest land, not BLM ground like the Little Applegate and Tunnel Ridge sites 18 miles downstream.
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BLM Medford District designates four recreational gold panning areas on the Rogue River system — Hellgate, Gold Nugget, Little Applegate, and Tunnel Ridge.
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Magnet fishing is prohibited on the Congaree River in Columbia — South Carolina is the only state we've found with a statewide ban, and this exact stretch is why: Union troops dumped Confederate…
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Magnet fishing is allowed at Lady Bird Lake — Texas has no statute against it and Austin has no ordinance banning it.
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Magnet fishing's legal status at Lake Texoma is unclear — no Corps policy addresses it, and 36 CFR 327.14 never names the activity.
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Metal detecting is allowed on the sand at Dockweiler State Beach — no permit, and no ban from either agency that governs it.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Huntington State Beach's sandy shore under CDPR rules.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Newport Beach's city-managed Balboa Peninsula strand without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed on the sandy public beach at Ocean Beach — no city ordinance bans it and no permit is required.
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Metal detecting is allowed on both the City of Pismo Beach frontage and the adjacent Pismo State Beach — no permit on either section.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Amelia Island's county and city beaches without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed on the sandy sections of Bathtub Reef Beach without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Bradenton Beach with no permit required.
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Metal detecting is allowed on the ocean beach at Caladesi Island State Park without a permit, but the island is accessible only by ferry or private boat — there is no road access.
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Metal detecting is allowed at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park in designated beach zones only.
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Caspersen Beach — Sarasota County's most productive shark tooth site — has been closed to public access since Hurricane Helene and Milton struck in September–October 2024.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Clearwater Beach without a permit under City of Clearwater rules.
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Metal detecting is allowed on the Cocoa Beach city beach without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Daytona Beach with a free annual permit from the Volusia County Beach Safety Department.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Englewood Beach at Chadwick Park without a permit.
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Metal detecting in Fernandina Beach city parks is unconfirmed — no ordinance found either permitting or banning it.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Flagler Beach without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Fort De Soto's beaches with no permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Fort Myers Beach public beaches without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed on the ocean beach at Fort Pierce Inlet State Park without a detecting permit.
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Detecting is allowed at Gulf Breeze's sound-side public parks without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Honeymoon Island's Gulf beach.
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Hutchinson Island is a 20-mile barrier island split between St. Lucie and Martin counties with multiple distinct access points.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Jensen Beach Park on Hutchinson Island without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Longboat Key with no permit required.
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Metal detecting is prohibited at Lori Wilson Park.
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Metal detecting on the Town of Melbourne Beach's own beach is unclear: no town rule on it has been found, but we haven't been able to read the full text of the town's beach ordinances (Chapter 40),…
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Metal detecting is allowed on City of Naples public beaches and Collier County beach access points without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Santa Rosa County's Navarre Beach without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed at the city and county beach sections of New Smyrna Beach with a free annual permit from the Volusia County Beach Safety Department.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Panama City Beach's 26-mile public Gulf shore without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed at the Santa Rosa Island Authority (SRIA) managed sections of Pensacola Beach without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed on City of Sanibel public beaches without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Satellite Beach's public beaches with no permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed without a permit at Sebastian Inlet State Park, but only on the beach areas the park manager designates, between the toe of the dune and the high-water line.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Siesta Key Beach without a permit under Sarasota County Code § 90-33.
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Metal detecting is allowed at South Beach in Fort Pierce without a permit.
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Metal detecting appears to be allowed at the City of St. Augustine Beach's public beach, but this area demands heightened care: the City of St. Augustine (a separate historical municipality)…
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Metal detecting is allowed on the St. George Island State Park ocean beach; $6 entry; no separate permit required.
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Metal detecting is allowed at St. Pete Beach without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Stuart Beach without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Venice Beach without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Jaycee Beach Park in Vero Beach without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Vilano Beach without a permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Tybee Island's public beach with no permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Ocean City's 9-mile town beach with no permit.
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Detecting is allowed on the sand at Revere Beach with no DCR permission — sandy beaches are the one carve-out in the state detector rule.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Warren Dunes State Park without a permit, but only on the bare Lake Michigan shoreline.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Asbury Park's beach — no city ordinance was found prohibiting it.
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The City of Cape May's own beaches have no ordinance against metal detecting beyond the standard seasonal beach badge.
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Metal detecting at Island Beach State Park requires a Superintendent's permit under N.J.A.C. 7:2-2.16, often denied across the park's protected Natural Areas.
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Metal detecting is permit-required at Jones Beach State Park.
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Metal detecting is banned outright at Cape Hatteras National Seashore under 36 CFR 2.1(a)(7) — a specific federal subsection targeting detectors, not just the general ban on removing natural objects.
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Metal detecting is allowed on the town-managed strand at Carolina Beach — no ordinance bans it and no permit is required.
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Metal detecting is allowed on the Kure Beach strand — no town ordinance addresses it — but Fort Fisher SRA next door prohibits it except by permit.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Nags Head's public beach with no permit — confirmed directly by the town.
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Metal detecting is legal on Wrightsville Beach's public strand unless a specific area is posted otherwise, confirmed directly by the town's own visitor guidelines.
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Metal detecting is allowed at Presque Isle with the park manager's sign-off, but Pennsylvania's statewide state-park rule leaves summer beach access to the manager's discretion, and the Gull Point…
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Metal detecting is allowed on the open public beach within Myrtle Beach city limits, but not in the dunes.
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Metal detecting is prohibited at Galveston Island State Park under Texas Parks and Wildlife Department regulations.
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Metal detecting is allowed on Galveston's city- and county-managed public beaches without a permit.
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Metal detecting is banned across all 70 miles of Padre Island National Seashore under 36 CFR 2.1(a)(7).
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Metal detecting is allowed on the Port Aransas city beach without a permit, from near Horace Caldwell Pier down to Marker 62.
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Metal detecting is allowed without a permit on South Padre Island's city and county beaches.
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No Virginia Beach ordinance bans metal detecting on the public sand beach.
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Rockhounding is allowed on BLM land surrounding Alamo Lake — 25 lb/day casual collection, hand tools only.
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Digging for fire agate is allowed at the Black Hills Rockhound Area near Safford with no fee or permit.
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Placer gold and almandine garnet collecting are allowed on Prescott National Forest land at Lynx Creek under Forest Service personal-use rules: no permit, and generally up to 10 lb of rocks and…
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Petrified wood and fossils cannot be collected at Petrified Forest National Park under any circumstances.
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Rockhounding is allowed on the BLM open desert around Quartzsite without a permit: BLM Arizona sets personal use at 25 lb a day and 250 lb a year.
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The desert washes and BLM lands surrounding the historic Vulture Mine near Wickenburg, Arizona, are open for recreational rockhounding and gold prospecting under BLM casual use rules (43 CFR § 3809).
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Every diamond, amethyst and garnet you find at Crater of Diamonds is yours to keep for a $15 admission and no permit.
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Mount Ida's pay-to-dig crystal mines need only a ticket, and you keep what you find.
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Wiley Well is one of the few places BLM has formally designated for recreational mineral collecting rather than merely tolerating it.
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Rockhounding at Hells Canyon is mixed: a third of the NRA is Wilderness, where collecting is prohibited, and no policy for the rest was confirmed.
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Digging for opal at Spencer Opal Mines is a private fee-dig on a patented claim — $75/adult, $50/child — no permit needed, and no mapped free BLM ground nearby.
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Petoskey stones may be collected at Petoskey State Park with no permit, but Michigan caps rocks and fossils from all state land at 25 pounds a year.
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Garnet Hill near Ely, Nevada is one of the most accessible free rockhounding sites in the Great Basin — an exposed rhyolite flow studded with red almandine garnets that can be collected by the…
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Royal Peacock is a private, family-run fee-dig opal claim in Virgin Valley — pay to dig, keep everything you find, no daily weight limit.
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Recreational rockhounding is allowed on BLM land surrounding Rye Patch Reservoir in "reasonable amounts" under 43 CFR 8365.1-5(b).
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Virgin Valley is inside Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, not BLM land.
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No state permit applies — the Buckwheat Dump is museum-owned private ground.
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Petrified wood collection is banned throughout Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness by the site's own Wilderness Management Plan — the one material most rockhounds show up hoping to find.
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Rockhound State Park is the rare state park built for the hobby it's named after: pay the day-use fee, collect up to 15 lb of jasper, agate, and thundereggs per visitor as souvenirs, and take it home.
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Digging at Herkimer Diamond Mines needs only an admission ticket, and you keep every crystal.
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Emerald Hollow Mine is a private, pay-to-dig operation — no government permit exists or is needed — but it is not the site of North Carolina's record-setting emerald finds; those came from two…
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Glass Buttes is open BLM land in the Oregon high desert where four varieties of obsidian — including rare fire obsidian — lie on the surface for personal-use collecting.
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Hampton Butte is an open BLM site in Deschutes County where surface collection of picture jasper — including dendritic and landscape-pattern varieties — is allowed in reasonable personal-use amounts…
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The gem-opal deposit at Opal Butte sits on private, patented mining claims — not BLM land.
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Saddle Butte is a Wilderness Study Area, not the open BLM collecting ground the general rockhounding lists suggest — its 81,380 acres are protected specifically for an extensive lava tube cave…
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Sunstone collecting is free at the BLM Oregon Sunstone Public Collection Area near Plush.
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Succor Creek State Natural Area in eastern Oregon's Owyhee canyon country allows rockhounding within the state natural area without a permit for personal-use collection.
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Rockhounding is free at Dugway Geode Beds on open BLM land.
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Rockhounding is free at Rock Corral Recreation Area in Utah's Mineral Mountains — BLM's own named site for the range's smoky quartz and feldspar crystals.
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Topaz crystals are free to collect at Topaz Mountain in the Thomas Range, Utah, in "reasonable amounts" for personal use.
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