Heritage Resources
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Permitting & Collecting
The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, Public Law 111-011. P.L. 111-011, Title VI, Subtitle D on Paleontological Resources Preservation (known by its popular name as the PRPA) is the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) new authority to collect paleontological resources or fossils from public lands either with or without a permit. The PRPA provides for casual collecting of reasonable amounts of common invertebrate and plant fossils from public lands for personal use without a permit. Casual collecting as defined in 16 U.S.C. 470aaa(1) means:
“… 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.” The PRPA requires that the Secretary develop regulations implementing the legislation and will include defining certain commonly used terms. On April 24, 2009, the BLM issued an instruction memorandum, IM 2009-113 , on Casual Collecting of Common Invertebrate and Plant Paleontological Resources under the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act of 2009 which provides guidelines on casual collecting under the PRPA. The PRPA does not change BLM’s requirement for issuance of a paleontological resources use permit for the collection of vertebrate and other paleontological resources of paleontological interest by qualified researchers. Commercial collection of any type of fossil from Federal lands is not allowed, except for petrified wood which was designated a mineral material by Congress in 1962, and therefore, is salable under the Mineral Materials Act (43 CFR 3600.) Comprehensive information about paleontological resources use permits can be found on the BLM Utah Paleontological Permitting website. If you have questions about collecting fossils on public lands, please contact your local BLM State Office. |
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