not legal advice
rules we actually encode
this page is a field crib sheet, not a lawyer, and this map is not 100% accurate. it covers arizona — phoenix, flagstaff, yuma, apache junction, prescott — not one wash. BLM, Forest Service, and the state can change a withdrawal while you are packing the truck. maps lag. verify the parcel, MLRS, and the field office the morning you go. unknown is not marked open.
what you may keep (sometimes)
BLM’s public pamphlet “Can I Keep This?” is the starting point. rocks and minerals in reasonable amounts, some petrified wood limits, gold pans. not artifacts. not vertebrate fossils. not anything from a claim that is not yours.
casual use on BLM — 43 CFR 3809
casual use means you are not trashing the wash: hand tools, a metal detector, a pan, fill the holes. mechanized earth moving is not casual use. a suction dredge is not casual use. read 43 CFR 3809.
BLM Arizona instruction memorandum AZ-2015-008: a dry washer with an engine under 10 horsepower, fed by hand, may still be casual use in Arizona. suction dredging is not. that memo is arizona-specific. confirm before you bring a machine.
active mining claims
minerals on an active mining claim belong to the claimant. the map plots the public BLM MLRS “not closed” layer. it is a PLSS approximation. verify every serial on MLRS the morning you go. walking public surface is not the same as taking gold.
arizona state trust land
generally needs an Arizona State Land Department recreational permit. we do not mark it as free-to-detect BLM. ASLD recreational permits.
parks, monuments, wilderness
national parks, most national monuments, and many withdrawn areas: no detecting. BLM wilderness: hobby collecting must not involve surface disturbance. we warn. we do not encourage digging in wilderness.
artifacts — do not
the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and the Arizona Antiquities Act forbid taking items of human origin roughly 100+ years old from public land. no pots, no points, no “hot relic spots.” this site will not plot them. if it looks like a person made it a long time ago, leave it in the dirt.
shafts
if you find a shaft, do not enter it. report emergencies 911. our STAY OUT markers are USGS historic topo symbols (shafts, adits, air shafts), not an invitation and not gold.