Permits & rules

Artifacts are not specimens

Pecked petroglyph figures on a tan sandstone wall in Buckhorn Wash, Utah — A petroglyph in Buckhorn Wash on BLM land. Rock art and artifacts are protected. They are not specimens. Photo: Cindy Gallo, BLM Utah, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A flake, point, sherd, corn cob, or tin can from an old camp can look like “just trash on the ground.” On public land it is often a cultural resource. Casual rock collecting does not cover it.

Leave these

Arrowheads, points, tools, pottery, grinding stones
Structures, rock art, bones in a site context
Anything that looks made or used by people, including historic cabins and dumps in many cases

Photograph. GPS for yourself. Walk away. Do not “just take one sherd for the classroom” off federal or state land unless you have a real permit for that activity.

Why this is stricter than agate

Federal and state historic-preservation rules sit on top of BLM casual-use rock rules. Monuments and parks are even tighter. “I collect rocks” is not a defense if the object is an artifact.

If you already picked something up

Stop adding to the pile. Contact the field office or park. Don’t sell it, don’t post a “look what I found in Bears Ears” haul.

Informational only — not legal advice. When an object might be cultural, the answer on this site is leave it.

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