Permission, permits and private land

How to get to yes, and what "yes" needs to look like.

Four situations

Public land where collecting is allowed within limits. Public land where it is not. Private land. Claimed ground.

The first is the previous page. The rest are here.

Private land

Permission from the owner, and a landowner's verbal yes is worth having in writing.

What to establish: who actually owns it, whether the mineral rights are held separately from the surface, what you may take and how much, whether you may sell it, and liability.

The mineral rights point is the one that surprises people. Surface and mineral estate are frequently severed, and the surface owner may not be able to give you what you are asking for.

A short written note covering dates, what you may collect, quantity and whether resale is permitted protects both sides and costs an email.

Fee-dig sites are private land with the permission and the terms already settled, which is why they are a good place to start.

Permits on public land

Needed above the reasonable personal-use amount, and needed for commercial collection at any quantity.

Also needed for anything mechanized, for anything beyond hand tools in many areas, and for vertebrate fossils on federal land, which remain federal property and cannot be collected without one.

Apply to the managing office for the specific parcel. It is an administrative process rather than a difficult one, and it is far cheaper than the alternative.

Claims

An active mining claim gives the claimant rights to the minerals. Collecting on a claim without permission is taking somebody's property, whatever the surface status.

Claims are searchable through the managing agency's records, and a claimed area is frequently marked on the ground with posts and notices.

Many claimants will say yes if asked. Almost none will if not.

References