How do you get a permit or contract to collect commercially on public land?

On BLM land you ask the field office that manages the ground, in writing, for a contract or permit before you collect; the regulation names the BLM's mineral materials rules (43 CFR part 3600) and its forest products rules (part 5400) as the routes [1]. Mineral materials, which BLM defines to include petrified wood and common varieties of stone, are sold by contract at no less than fair market value [2]. On a national forest, commercial collecting falls under mining and mineral laws, and the ranger district is where to start [3]. Fossils and anything in a national park have no commercial route at all. This page sets out each agency's text, the application and the costs.

Which door fits what you want to collect

Which of these applies to a given mineral is a question for the field office. The sources read here do not draw the line between a "mineral specimen" sold under part 3600 and a locatable mineral that would be claimed under the mining law, and the answer can depend on the material and the ground. Ask before you assume.

BLM mineral materials contracts, from the regulation

Part 3600 is written for sand and gravel pits as much as for rockhounds, so most of it concerns volume. The parts a small specimen or petrified wood business meets are these:

1. What counts. Mineral materials include "petrified wood and common varieties of sand, stone, gravel, pumice, pumicite, cinders, and clay," and the list is not exhaustive [2].
2. BLM's starting position. It aims "To make mineral materials available unless it is detrimental to the public interest to do so" and "To sell mineral material resources at not less than fair market value" [2].
3. Asking. You submit a written request to the BLM office with jurisdiction, and "No particular form is required" (3602.11(a)) [2].
4. Price. "BLM will not sell mineral materials at less than fair market value," which BLM sets by appraisal (3602.13) [2]. There is no fixed minimum price in the text.
5. Competitive or not. BLM generally sells by competitive bid after publication and posting (3602.41). It may sell without bidding, at fair market value, when an individual sale is "not greater than 200,000 cubic yards (or weight equivalent)" and it finds the sale in the public interest and competition impracticable (3602.31(a)) [2]. A specimen collector's volumes are far below that ceiling, so the noncompetitive route is the one to ask about.
6. Processing fees. Charged case by case under 43 CFR 3000.11 (3602.31(b)) [2]. The text sets no flat amount.
7. Length. A noncompetitive contract may not exceed 5 years, a competitive one 10 years (3602.34, 3602.46) [2].

The regulation also covers community pits and common use areas, which have their own sale procedures and in which processing fees are waived (3602.11(c), 3603) [2]. Ask whether the area you want is one.

What to put in the written request

The regulation requires no form, so the request is a letter. It should answer the questions the office will need to answer before it can appraise and approve a sale:

• who you are and how to reach you;
• the material (species or rock type, and petrified wood if it is that);
• the location, as a legal land description or coordinates, with a map;
• the quantity, by weight, over what period;
• how you will collect it (hand tools, any equipment) and how you will restore the site;
• that the material is for sale.

Before you send it, check that the ground is BLM land, that it is open, and that no claim covers it. The steps are on finding out who manages the ground you are standing on and mining claims.

Very large petrified wood specimens

The petrified wood regulation provides a separate permit for removing exceptionally large specimens, but only when the applicant certifies the specimen "will be displayed to the public in a museum or similar institution" [8]. That permit does not open a commercial route; it exists for public display. The weight limits that apply to hobby collecting are on petrified wood on public land.

Meteorites: what the 2012 memorandum describes

BLM IM 2012-182 describes commercial meteorite collection under a land use permit "issued under the authority of the Federal Lands Policy and Management Act (FLPMA)," handled by local offices "in accordance with the regulations in 43 CFR 2920" [5]. The applicant pays "an application fee," "a purchase price based on either a unit price or a percentage of the fair market value of the removed material," and "a reclamation fee as appropriate," and must comply with all environmental laws for surface disturbing activities [5]. The memorandum's page lists "Expires: 09/30/2013," and BLM has published no replacement as of October 2026. Get the field office's current answer in writing before relying on it; the full background is on meteorites on public land.

National forests

The Forest Service's rockhounding sheet is short on the commercial side. It separates rockhounding from "commercial mineral activities that are governed by mining and mineral laws," warns that "collecting for commercial gain without a permit is punishable by fines and potential restoration costs," and says any collection "must not conflict with existing mineral permits, leases, claims, or sales" [3]. It lists free use permits for personal use and refers lapidary material to 36 CFR 228, Subpart C [3]. That subpart defines mineral materials to include petrified wood (228.42) and lists the ways the Forest Service disposes of them: competitive sale, negotiated sale, preference right sale, free use and the agency's own force account (228.57) [9]. Free use is closed to sellers: it is for uses other than commercial purposes, resale or barter (228.62(d)), and free-use petrified wood "may not be bartered or sold" (228.62(e)) [9]. A seller therefore needs a sale. Negotiated sales are made "at not less than the appraised value" and are limited to 100,000 cubic yards per sale (228.59(a)) [9]. Call or write to the ranger district for the forest, describe the material and quantity, and ask for a mineral materials sale. No fixed fee or approval timeline was found in the text read.

Costs and timelines

Budget for the appraisal and processing time, and do not collect until the contract or permit is signed. Material taken before the paper exists was taken under the noncommercial allowance, and that material cannot be sold [1].

After the permit: keeping the record

A permit or contract is only as good as your proof that each piece came from inside it. File the signed contract, note its number on every stock record for material collected under it, and record the collecting date and location so each specimen falls inside the permit's area and dates. The record layout is on what makes stock lawful, and how to prove it.

References

1. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 43 CFR 8365.1-5 Property and resources (as amended through 87 FR 47329, Aug. 2, 2022), read October 22, 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/43/8365.1-5
2. eCFR, 43 CFR Part 3600, Mineral Materials Disposal, Subparts 3601 to 3604, up to date as of October 7, 2026. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-43/subtitle-B/chapter-II/subchapter-C/part-3600
3. USDA Forest Service, Minerals and Geology Staff, *Rockhounding Guide*, FS-1091, June 2017. https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/229394
4. Bureau of Land Management, *Can I Keep This? A Guide to Collecting on Public Lands*, BLM/MT/GI-11/007, revised 2021. https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2021-10/Can%20I%20Keep%20This%202021%20-%20508%20Final%20Version.pdf
5. Bureau of Land Management, Instruction Memorandum 2012-182, *Collection of Meteorites on Public Land*, September 10, 2012 (page lists "Expires: 09/30/2013"), read October 22, 2026. https://www.blm.gov/policy/im-2012-182
6. Bureau of Land Management, Montana-Dakotas State Office, *Mining Claim Packet*, September 2024. https://blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2024-09/MTDK%20Mining%20Claims%20Packet%202024.09.pdf
7. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 36 CFR 2.1 Preservation of natural, cultural and archeological resources (as amended through 87 FR 47319, Aug. 2, 2022), read October 22, 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/36/2.1
8. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 43 CFR 3622.2 Procedures; permits, read October 22, 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/43/3622.2
9. eCFR, 36 CFR Part 228, Subpart C, Disposal of Mineral Materials (sections 228.42, 228.57, 228.59 and 228.62), up to date as of August 24, 2026, read October 22, 2026. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-36/chapter-II/part-228