Fossil Hunting in South Dakota

1 location in South Dakota checked against the rules of the agency that manages each one: 1 prohibited. Each page gives the permit requirements, limits, restrictions and penalties, with the primary sources it was checked against.

Rules last checked in July 2026

1 Prohibited

Loading map…

Site Guides

Prohibited

Badlands National Park

South Dakota, Pennington Jackson·Fossil Hunting

Fossil collecting is prohibited at Badlands National Park under NPS regulations and PRPA 2009. The White River Badlands contain the richest Oligocene mammal fossil record on Earth — none of it can be collected, but significant finds are exposed by erosion and must be reported to a ranger.

All fossil collection is prohibited under NPS regulations (36 CFR 2.1) and PRPA 2009 — this applies to all material including surface fragments and isolated bone chips
Do not pick up, move, or pocket any fossil material — even temporarily, before 'replacing' it, is a violation

Laws That Apply to These Sites

36 CFR § 2.1 Explained: Why National Park Land Bans Collecting

One federal regulation is cited more than any other statute on this site — across metal detecting, beachcombing, fossil hunting, and rockhounding alike. It actually contains two separate bans, not one, and knowing the difference is the reason a metal detector broken down in a backpack is legal to carry across the same ground where using it would be a federal offense.

The Paleontological Resources Preservation Act (PRPA), Explained

Every fossil-hunting site on this site traces back to the same 2009 federal law — the one that draws the line between a shell you can legally pocket and a bone fragment that's a federal crime to remove, based on nothing but which kind of animal it came from.