How do I get permission to collect on private land, and what should the letter say?
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Ask the owner before you set foot on the ground, and get the answer in writing. A short signed letter that names the dates, the area, the tools you may use, what you may keep, whether you may sell it, and who carries the risk turns a handshake into a record that protects both of you. Private land is also the most common lawful source of specimens you intend to sell, because federal noncommercial allowances do not permit resale [1][2]. This page covers how to find and approach the owner, what the letter should say, what to do when the minerals belong to someone other than the surface owner, and how to handle quarries and active mines.
Why private ground is worth the effort
Public land rules cap what you can do. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) allows rocks and mineral specimens in "reasonable amounts" for noncommercial purposes, and collecting "for sale or barter to commercial dealers" needs a contract or permit [1]. The Forest Service says "Hobby specimens may only be collected for personal use and cannot be bartered or sold" [3]. A private owner, by contrast, can let you dig with a backhoe, return every weekend, and sell what you find, as long as the owner agrees and nothing else about the land prevents it. That is why many dealers and club field-trip chairs build long relationships with ranchers and quarry operators.
The Forest Service's own rockhounding sheet reminds collectors to "respect private property" and avoid trespassing, and notes that state or local permits may be needed depending on location and land ownership [3]. Trespass is a matter of state law, and penalties and posting rules differ from state to state. If you are unsure whether unposted land is open, treat it as closed until the owner says otherwise.
Finding the owner
- Identify the parcel. Use the county's parcel viewer or assessor map to find the parcel number and owner of record. The method, including how to tell private from public ground on a land status map, is on finding out who manages the ground you are standing on.
- Check for a claim or lease. Unpatented mining claims sit on federal land, not private land, but a private parcel can still be leased to a mining company or a quarry. Ask the owner directly whether anyone else holds rights on the property.
- Find a person. The owner of record may be a trust, a company or an absentee heir. Neighbors, the local club and the county extension office often know who actually decides.
- Make contact in person or by phone first. A letter from a stranger asking to dig is easy to ignore. A short visit, a club card, and an offer to show the owner what you find go further.
What to bring to the conversation
Owners usually worry about the same few things: gates left open, ruts in a wet pasture, holes livestock can break a leg in, and being sued if you get hurt. Answer those before they are asked. Say how many people will come, what vehicles, what tools, and how you will fill holes. If you belong to a club, say whether the club carries insurance for field trips and offer the certificate; the club's officers can tell you what it covers. Offer something back: a labeled specimen for the owner's family, a copy of what you learn about the site, or a share of anything sold, if that is the arrangement.
What the permission letter should cover
There is no official form. The checklist below is a set of points to agree on, not legal language; for anything beyond a casual visit, especially a sale arrangement or a long lease, have a lawyer in your state review it.
| Point | What to write | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Parties | Owner's name and signature; your name and the names of anyone coming with you | Shows who gave permission and to whom |
| Property | Address or parcel number, and a simple map or description of where you may dig | Keeps you inside the area the owner meant |
| Dates | Specific dates, or a start and end date, and whether permission can be withdrawn | Stops a one-day yes from being stretched |
| Access | Gates, roads, parking, vehicles allowed | Prevents most complaints |
| Tools | Hand tools only, or named power tools or machinery | Owners often say yes to picks and no to pry bars on ledges |
| Restoration | Filling holes, removing trash, leaving fences as found | Puts the expectation in writing |
| What you may keep | All material, named minerals, or a quantity | Settles ownership of what you take |
| Sale | Whether you may sell what you collect, and any share or fee owed | This clause is what makes the material lawful stock for a seller |
| Credit on labels | Whether the owner wants the locality named precisely, generally, or not at all | Many owners do not want the site published |
| Risk | Who is responsible for injury and damage, and any insurance | The question owners care most about |
Sign two copies. You keep one and the owner keeps the other.
Keep the letter with the specimens
The letter is a provenance record. A buyer, a museum or a club auction may ask years later how a specimen was obtained, and a dated letter from the owner answers it. File it with your field notes and catalog, and record the letter's date in each specimen's catalog entry. The reasoning is set out on provenance and old labels, and the records a seller needs are on what makes stock lawful, and how to prove it.
When the surface and the minerals have different owners
In much of the West, the person who owns the surface does not always own the minerals beneath it. A mineral estate can be sold or kept separately from the surface, and the two are then said to be severed (or "split"). This cuts both ways for a collector.
- Federal surface over private minerals. The BLM says rock collection on its land is "generally not allowed" in certain areas, and lists land where the mineral estate is privately owned among them [2][4]. A parcel that looks like ordinary BLM land on a map can fall in this category, so ask the field office.
- Private surface over federal or third-party minerals. You still need the surface owner's permission to be there. Whether the surface owner can also let you keep minerals depends on who owns them and on state law. The county recorder's deed records and the BLM's land records show who holds the mineral estate.
If a parcel's title is split, get permission from the surface owner and ask whether a mineral owner or lessee also has to agree. For a sale arrangement, the mineral owner's position matters as much as the surface owner's.
Quarries and active mines
Working quarries and mines are private property with their own safety rules and, for operating mines, federal safety oversight. Never enter one without the operator's arrangement, usually organized as a club field trip with a signed release, required hard hats, safety glasses and boots, and an escort. Expect rules about where you may go, how close to the high wall, and whether you may use hammers on fresh faces. Abandoned mines are a different and more dangerous problem, set out on old mines, tailings and dumps.
Club trips are often the only way an individual gets into a commercial quarry at all. The clubs and federations that run them are on clubs, federations and societies.
If the owner says no
Thank them and leave a contact card. Owners change their minds, sell land and pass it on. A courteous refusal kept on good terms is how many collectors get a yes ten years later. Never collect from a road cut or fence line next to land you were refused; road rights of way have their own owners and rules, which are often a state highway department.
Paying to collect instead
If you would rather not negotiate, a fee-dig site is private land where the owner has already written the terms and sells the right to collect, often including the right to keep and sell what you find. How those terms work, and what to read before paying, is on fee-dig sites and pay-to-collect mines.
References
- 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
- Bureau of Land Management, *Public Collection of Rocks, Mineral Specimens, and Semiprecious Gemstones on Public Lands for Noncommercial Purposes: FAQ*, file dated February 28, 2024. https://muleapi.blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2024-02/BLM-Rock-Collection-FAQs_2-28-24.pdf
- USDA Forest Service, *Rockhounding Guide*, FS-1091, June 2017. https://www.fs.usda.gov/media/229394
- Bureau of Land Management, *Rockhounding on Public Lands*, read October 22, 2026. https://blm.gov/programs/recreation/rockhounding
