Below is some information about Washington State rock hounding, mineral and fossil collecting on 1) federal, 2) state and 3) private lands taken from the agency websites. Click on the links for more details.
If rules don't allow you to take your treasure home, you can still take a photo to remind you of your great find. By respecting the rules and leaving the rock, gem or fossil behind, someone else will be able to share the same excitement when they find it.
1. FEDERAL LANDS
Are you on Federal Land that is a Park, Monument, Refuge or Tribal Land?
Below is a list of Federal public lands managed by the Federal Government that do not allow rock hounding or fossil-hunting. If you find something here, you need to leave it.
National Parks
National Monuments
National Wildlife Refuges
National Scenic Areas
Tribal Lands
Are you on Federal Land managed by the Bureau of Land Management?
You can collect up to 250 pounds of rocks, gems and specimens for personal, non-commercial use from BLM land annually without a permit. You can use hand tools such as shovels and picks, but no power equipment for excavation. (Commercial uses of rocks and specimens include selling, trading or bartering them.)
Are you on Federal Land managed by the US Forest Service?
You can collect a reasonable amount of rocks and minerals for personal or hobby use from most National Forest Service lands without a permit. The reasonable amount is defined as 10 pounds. You can collect samples from the surface only - no digging, even with hand tools - when on Forest Service land. You can collect common minerals, as well conduct recreational gold panning and collect gold and other naturally occurring metals.
You can collect fossils of plants, clams and insects (non-vertebrate only) from Forest Service land. You will need to get a free-use permit if you want to collected petrified wood (wood that has been fossilized by silica) for personal use.
Image caption: Checking out plant fossils in a roadcut near Wenatchee. Photo credit Jeff Schwartz.
You cannot collect fossil fish bones, shark teeth or other vertebrate bones from US Forest Service land, and you cannot collect Archeological artifacts such as remains of prehistoric or historic human life or activities (anything older than 50 years). Arrowheads cannot be collected, they are also considered human-modified stone.
2. STATE LANDS
Are you on Washington Department of Natural Resources State Lands?
State lands managed by the Washington Department of Natural Resources (WA DNR) are host to amazing agates, amethysts, garnets, jaspers, opals, and even gold nuggets. Washington State also has an array of fossils including crinoids, clams, trilobites, snails, corals, and at least one dinosaur.
The following specimens cannot be collected from DNR land without a permit due to their rarity: meteorites, vertebrate fossils, or any archeological or historic artifacts.
If you want to collect for hobby purposes from DNR land, check out DNR's online rockhounding and fossil map. Permits are issued by region, and Port Townsend is in the Olympic Region.
Are you in a State Park?
You must have a permit from the State Parks to collect any minerals or fossils.
Why? Any finds on State Lands are considered public property. In 2015, a therapod dinosaur fossil was found in Sucia Island Marine State Park in the San Juan Islands by Burke Museum staff. The therapod family of dinosaurs includes the carnivorous velociraptor. Cool! This dinosaur find will remain in the collection of the public Washington State Parks collection for all residents of Washington to enjoy in the future. The dinosaur femur is on display now at the Burke Museum in Seattle.
Image caption: Theropod dinosaur femur discovered at Sucia Island Marine State Park in 2015. Images courtesy of Burke Museum.
Are you on County or City land?
Then you need to check with the folks at the local city or county permitting office. Local rules vary.
3. PRIVATE LAND
Before entering private land, you must ask the landowner for permission. Private land owners include farmers, forestry companies and residents. No trespassing!
It is illegal to remove cultural artifacts from public land or from private land you do not own. Take a picture, get the GPS coordinates, or draw a map and notify the public or private landowner. Contact the Burke Museum to help you find the correct public landowner, or to help you identify an artifact or fossil.
If you own property and mineral rights, then you have the right to collect on your property or to give permission to others to do so. If you are not sure if you own the mineral rights to your property, check the property deed, or contact your County Assessor’s office.
Mining claims (both patented and unpatented) are considered private lands, and you must obtain the owner's or claim holder's permissions before proceeding.
If you want more information on how to obtain a commercial collecting permit, check mineral rights for your land, or file a mining claim or mineral lease on public land click here.
Obey the collecting rules, the fines are steep!
