Bill Dye The Travis Guy Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 I’ve been watching some YouTubers who find fossils in Florida and they’ve brought up the point of getting a fossil permit. I live in Missouri and I tried looking up if I needed one but haven’t seen anything saying I need it or where to even get one if needed. I also looked up the legality of selling fossils here but I get mixed answers. Is it legal if from public land? Thanks for any help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS Ammonite Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 Generally on BLM and US Forest Service land you cannot sell or trade your fossil finds. See my previous post: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/125563-final-rules-for-casual-collecting-on-blm-and-other-federal-lands/ There may be permits available for commercial collection of petrified wood. I have not tracked down a rule in the code yet, but found a mention in a US Forest Service post. Contact local BLM and Forest Service offices for more info. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r3/recreation/regulations/?cid=fsbdev3_022262 While not specifically covered in the code, I believe that you can sell fossils that are composed of materials that can be claimed and sold from a mining claim. Examples include fossils composed of uranium and copper ore and fossils composed of precious opal. Note that you first have to file a claim and convince the government that you can mine those fossils. Historically lots of uranium ore in mining claims replaced and coated wood. Here is a mine in Cuba, New Mexico that contains wood replaced with copper ore: https://www.mindat.org/loc-7971.html 2 1 My goal is to leave no stone or fossil unturned. See my Arizona Paleontology Guide link The best single resource for Arizona paleontology anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TqB Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 @pefty Can you help? 1 Tarquin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patelinho7 Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 From what I've seen, permits usually apply to parks so always check park websites for their rules. Also I love your profile picture it's hilarious 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 As far as I know a fossil permit is required in Florida. There are reporting requirements of fossils found as a condition to collect. @Shellseeker or @digit should be able to give you the details. Marco Sr. 1 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 Fossils found on public lands in Florida are legally property of the state. The Florida Vertebrate Fossil Permit allows people to hunt for vertebrate fossils (beyond shark teeth which require no permit). A report at the end of the yearly duration of the permit acts as an information gathering program to allow the FLMNH to understand where people are hunting (generally) and what types of fossils are being found. There are provisions for scientifically important specimens to be requested by the museum but this happens infrequently. Most hunters are happy to donate worthy specimens. More rarely the museum has to insist in their prior claim to important fossils--only a handful of times over the years. https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/vertpaleo/amateur-collector/fossil-permit/permit-application/ None of this applies to Missouri but that's how we do it here. It generally varies by state. All state and national parks limit what can be removed from them and that usually covers fossil material. Cheers. -Ken 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connorp Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 AFAIK, Missouri is like most Midwest states and allows collecting on public land (except interstates). Missouri is very fossiliferous and has a large number of active collectors. If you are on Facebook, considering joining the Missouri Fossil Hunters group. It is active and well managed, and they host occasional field trips to public sites. 3 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 20 hours ago, digit said: Fossils found on public lands in Florida are legally property of the state. The Florida Vertebrate Fossil Permit allows people to hunt for vertebrate fossils (beyond shark teeth which require no permit). One of the nuances in Florida is that most of the amateur fossil hunting occurs in and under water, not on dry land... Florida has a huge amount of fossils merge with the gravels of the river, creeks, lakes, etc and Florida defines most of those riverbeds as "public lands"... It is a question of access. Many/most of the dry land fossil areas are 20-40 feet below the surface.. 2 The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Dye The Travis Guy Posted January 14, 2023 Author Share Posted January 14, 2023 On 1/12/2023 at 10:51 AM, patelinho7 said: From what I've seen, permits usually apply to parks so always check park websites for their rules. Also I love your profile picture it's hilarious Thanks lol I found it on a science meme account Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Dye The Travis Guy Posted January 14, 2023 Author Share Posted January 14, 2023 4 hours ago, Shellseeker said: One of the nuances in Florida is that most of the amateur fossil hunting occurs in and under water, not on dry land... Florida has a huge amount of fossils merge with the gravels of the river, creeks, lakes, etc and Florida defines most of those riverbeds as "public lands"... It is a question of access. Many/most of the dry land fossil areas are 20-40 feet below the surface.. On 1/12/2023 at 8:59 PM, digit said: Fossils found on public lands in Florida are legally property of the state. The Florida Vertebrate Fossil Permit allows people to hunt for vertebrate fossils (beyond shark teeth which require no permit). A report at the end of the yearly duration of the permit acts as an information gathering program to allow the FLMNH to understand where people are hunting (generally) and what types of fossils are being found. There are provisions for scientifically important specimens to be requested by the museum but this happens infrequently. Most hunters are happy to donate worthy specimens. More rarely the museum has to insist in their prior claim to important fossils--only a handful of times over the years. https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/vertpaleo/amateur-collector/fossil-permit/permit-application/ None of this applies to Missouri but that's how we do it here. It generally varies by state. All state and national parks limit what can be removed from them and that usually covers fossil material. Cheers. -Ken On 1/12/2023 at 8:24 PM, MarcoSr said: As far as I know a fossil permit is required in Florida. There are reporting requirements of fossils found as a condition to collect. @Shellseeker or @digit should be able to give you the details. Marco Sr. Thanks for the info! I’ve been watching a channel called digging science. They’re based in Florida and find tons of ice age animals and they’ve brought up the licensing stuff. Thought it might be smart to check out Missouri’s laws that I might not have known. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Dye The Travis Guy Posted January 14, 2023 Author Share Posted January 14, 2023 7 hours ago, connorp said: AFAIK, Missouri is like most Midwest states and allows collecting on public land (except interstates). Missouri is very fossiliferous and has a large number of active collectors. If you are on Facebook, considering joining the Missouri Fossil Hunters group. It is active and well managed, and they host occasional field trips to public sites. Awesome! I’ll check them out! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted January 14, 2023 Share Posted January 14, 2023 9 hours ago, Bill Dye The Travis Guy said: Thanks for the info! I’ve been watching a channel called digging science. I've met the guy who does that channel. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Dye The Travis Guy Posted January 14, 2023 Author Share Posted January 14, 2023 13 minutes ago, digit said: I've met the guy who does that channel. Cheers. -Ken Whoa that’s awesome! I recently found his YouTube and have been loving them. Lucky hahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pefty Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 Thanks @TqB for the tag and @connorp for pointing the OP in the right direction. As an active member of the fossil community in Missouri, I second all of what Connor said. There’s no institution or property in Missouri that issues permits. The special rules for national forests, National parks, Army Corps of Engineer lands, state parks, state historic sites, and state conservation areas, among others, still apply here, of course. Come on out with us sometime 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts