Casual collecting, and why it is not a sales route
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The definition, in full
The collecting of a reasonable amount of common invertebrate and plant paleontological resources for non-commercial personal use, either by surface collection or the use of non-powered hand tools resulting in only negligible disturbance to the Earth’s surface and other resources.
Four limits, all in that sentence
A reasonable amount. Common invertebrate and plant. Non-commercial personal use. Surface collection or non-powered hand tools with negligible disturbance. Fail any one and it is not casual collecting.
Three of the four are for the Secretary to define
Reasonable amount, common invertebrate and plant paleontological resources, and negligible disturbance are each to be determined by the Secretary. So the operative numbers live in the agency regulations, not in the statute.
Where it applies
On federal land controlled or administered by the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Forest Service, where the collection is consistent with the laws governing management of that land and with the chapter.
So not on every federal unit
The exception names three agencies. Federal land administered otherwise is back to the permit requirement, and some units prohibit collecting altogether under their own management law.
And it converts to nothing
A specimen lawfully casual-collected for personal use does not become salable later. The limitation is on the collecting, so there is no point at which a change of mind makes commerce lawful.
A permit is not a route to ownership either
Every permit must require that the resource collected under it will remain the property of the United States and be preserved in an approved repository. So the scientific route does not produce salable material at all.
Read the agency regulations for the numbers
Reasonable amount, common, and negligible disturbance are each left to the Secretary, so the operative figures sit in 43 CFR part 49 and 36 CFR part 291 rather than in the statute. The statute tells you the shape of the exception and the regulations tell you its size.