Gold panning, rockhounding and fossil collecting laws in California
Most of the open public land in California is BLM land and national forest. There, gold panning, sluicing without a motor, hand drywashers, metal detecting and collecting rocks for your own collection need no permit and no fee. What you always have to check is the mining claims: on a valid claim the minerals belong to the claim holder.
California adds state rules that change what you can bring. Suction dredges are banned in every river, stream and lake, and since January 1, 2016 the ban covers any motorized or mechanized system, gas or electric, used to dig or process material from the bed, bank or channel of a stream to recover minerals: highbankers and power sluices fed with stream gravel are out too. Gear without a motor is exempt, and the law names panning for gold. State parks allow at most a gold pan, and only where posted, and fossils are protected on all land owned by the state, counties and cities. This page covers what is specific to California; the federal rules that apply everywhere are on our national rules page.
Last checked: October 2026. This page explains the rules in plain English, with the exact words of the law next to each rule; it is not legal advice. Laws change, so check with the agency before you go.
In short
- BLM land: gold panning, non-motorized sluicing, hand drywashers, metal detecting and collecting rocks for personal use are casual use under 43 CFR 3809.5 ↗: no permit, no fee.
- Rocks, minerals, gemstones, petrified wood and common invertebrate fossils on BLM land in California: up to 25 pounds plus one piece a day and 250 pounds a year, for your own collection, without motorized or mechanical tools (BLM California ↗).
- National forests: panning, metal detecting, non-motorized hand sluicing, battery drywashers and collecting with hand tools need no notice of intent (36 CFR 228.4 ↗), but some forests ask for one in sensitive areas.
- Suction dredges are banned in all of California and the state issues no permits; even owning one in or within 100 yards of closed waters is illegal (Fish and Game Code 5653 ↗).
- Highbankers, power sluices and pumps: banned when they dig or process material from a stream's bed, bank or channel, gas or electric alike. The ban applies on federal land and on mining claims too.
- State parks: rockhounding and panning only in parks or parts posted as open, with a gold pan and nothing else, up to 15 pounds a day (14 CCR 4611 ↗).
- Fossils, bones and artifacts: protected on all land owned by the state, counties, cities and public districts (Public Resources Code 5097.5 ↗); on BLM land, common invertebrates and plants only.
- No collecting, panning or metal detecting in national parks and most other National Park Service units. Whiskeytown National Recreation Area allows panning with a one-dollar yearly permit.
- Department of Fish and Wildlife lands (wildlife areas, ecological reserves): no panning and no rock collecting.
What you can do, land by land
BLM land (deserts, foothills and the gold country)
- Gold pan: Casual use, no permit
- Hand sluice: Without a motor: casual use, and exempt from the state ban
- Drywasher: Hand: casual use. With a battery or an engine in a wash or stream channel: gray zone under the state motor ban, ask CDFW
- Highbanker or pump: Banned on stream gravel by state law. On dry ground away from streams: gray zone, ask CDFW and the field office
- Suction dredge: Banned statewide by state law
- Metal detector: Allowed, no permit
- Rocks and minerals: 25 lb plus one piece a day, 250 lb a year, personal use, never from a claim
- Fossils: Common invertebrates and plants within the same limits; no bones or teeth
- Meteorites: Federal BLM rule, see our national page
What the agency says
“In California, the BLM sets the "reasonable" limits for personal use as up to 25 pounds per day, plus one piece, with a total limit of 250 pounds per year.”
Mining claims (on BLM and Forest Service land)
The minerals on a valid claim belong to the claim holder, so collecting there needs the holder's permission. A claim does not lift the state ban on dredges and motors: the California Supreme Court applied it to a claim on federal land. Our maps show in red the spots with a claim on record.
National forests (Klamath, Shasta-Trinity, Plumas, Tahoe, Eldorado, Stanislaus, Sierra, San Bernardino and the others)
Some forests ask for a notice even for small work in sensitive areas: on the San Bernardino National Forest, panning, drywashing and metal detecting in Holcomb Valley, Lytle Creek and the other listed areas need a notice of intent to the district ranger.
- Gold pan: No notice needed in most places
- Hand sluice: Without a motor: no notice needed
- Drywasher: Battery: no notice. With an engine: ask the ranger district whether it needs a notice of intent. In a wash or stream channel, the state motor ban is a gray zone
- Highbanker or pump: Banned on stream gravel by state law, whatever the Forest Service allows
- Suction dredge: Banned statewide by state law
- Metal detector: No notice needed in most places
- Rocks and minerals: Hand tools, personal use
What the law says
“gold panning, metal detecting, non-motorized hand sluicing, using battery operated dry washers, and collecting of mineral specimens using hand tools”
— 36 CFR 228.4(a)(1)(ii), operations that need no notice of intent ↗
Wilderness and wilderness study areas
In designated wilderness the Wilderness Act allows no motorized equipment and no mechanical transport (16 USC 1133(c) ↗). Ask the BLM field office or the ranger district before you collect in a wilderness or a wilderness study area.
National monuments and national conservation areas (Mojave Trails, Chuckwalla, Sand to Snow, Carrizo Plain, Berryessa Snow Mountain, Sáttítla Highlands, King Range and the others)
BLM California says collecting is prohibited in research natural areas, national conservation areas and national monuments, and that most monuments have extra rules. Mojave Trails is the exception the BLM spells out: rockhounding and invertebrate fossil collecting are allowed there under the casual-use rules. Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands, both of January 2025, are closed to new mining claims. Chuckwalla's proclamation names the permissible casual collection of rocks among the uses to look after but sets no limits, and Sáttítla's says nothing about collecting: ask the office before you pick anything up.
What the agency says
“Collecting of mineral and fossil resources is prohibited in certain areas being managed under special designation to protect their scientific and natural values, such as research natural areas, national conservation areas, and national monuments.”
California state parks, state beaches and state recreation areas
- Gold pan: Only in parks or parts posted as open, gold pan only (Auburn SRA, South Yuba River, Plumas-Eureka)
- Hand sluice: No tools except the gold pan
- Highbanker or pump: Not allowed
- Suction dredge: Not allowed
- Metal detector: No statewide rule published; some parks ban them (Auburn SRA). Ask the park
- Rocks and minerals: Only where posted: 15 lb a day, no tools, not for sale
- Fossils: Not allowed
What the law says
“Tools, except goldpans to be used in gold panning, may not be used in rockhounding within a unit.”
Department of Fish and Wildlife lands (wildlife areas, ecological reserves, fishing and public access sites)
- Gold pan: Not allowed
- Rocks and minerals: Not allowed
- Fossils: Not allowed
What the agency says
“Recreational gold mining or panning is not allowed on any CDFW owned lands.”
— California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Outdoors Q&A ↗
Beds of navigable rivers and lakes, and state school lands (State Lands Commission)
The State Lands Commission manages the beds of the navigable rivers and lakes, among them the Sacramento, the San Joaquin and Lake Tahoe, and the state school lands, mostly in the California desert. We found no published rule about hand panning on these lands: it is a gray zone, ask the Commission. Fossils and artifacts on them are protected like on any state land.
County and city parks, road cuts along state highways and county roads
Local rules apply; ask the county or city. Fossils and artifacts are protected on all these lands by Public Resources Code 5097.5, roadsides of state and county roads included.
National Park Service units (Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, Mojave National Preserve, Lassen, Redwood, Pinnacles and the others)
No collecting, no panning and no metal detecting: removing minerals or fossils and using a metal detector are prohibited by 36 CFR 2.1 ↗. Whiskeytown National Recreation Area allows panning: gold pan and a small trowel only, with a one-dollar yearly permit.
Reservations and rancherias
Collecting needs the tribe's permission.
Military land (China Lake, Fort Irwin, Twentynine Palms, Edwards, Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, Camp Pendleton, Vandenberg)
Closed.
Green: allowed. Amber: allowed with a notice or a permit. Red: not allowed. Gray: ask the agency.
Where you can actually go in California
Open BLM land and the national forests are where most hobby prospecting and rockhounding happens in California, from the gold country of the Sierra foothills to the deserts of the south. Our gold map, gem map and fossil map show the open land and, in red, the creek banks and spots with a claim on record.
A few state parks let you pan with a gold pan: Auburn State Recreation Area ↗ on the beaches and gravel bars of the North and Middle Forks of the American River, South Yuba River State Park ↗, and Plumas-Eureka State Park ↗ on Jamison Creek only. Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park ↗ in Coloma runs short panning lessons. In the national park system, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area ↗ in Shasta County allows panning with a permit.
For rocks, the BLM's Mojave Trails National Monument ↗ is open to rockhounding and invertebrate fossil collecting, and includes collecting areas such as Chambless ↗. The collecting areas, fee digs and clubs are marked on our maps.
Suction dredges, highbankers and pumps: the California ban
California has prohibited suction dredges in its rivers, streams and lakes since 2009. The ban is in Fish and Game Code 5653.1 ↗, and it lasts until the Department of Fish and Wildlife adopts new regulations that meet a list of conditions set by the law.
What the agency says
“The use of vacuum or suction dredge equipment, otherwise known as suction dredging, is currently prohibited and unlawful throughout California.”
— California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Suction Dredge Permits ↗
What the agency says
“Under existing state law the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is also currently prohibited from issuing any permits for suction dredging in California under the Fish and Game Code.”
— California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Suction Dredge Permits ↗
Since January 1, 2016, a law known as SB 637 defines suction dredging much more broadly than a dredge. Any mechanized or motorized system that removes, helps remove or processes material from a stream's bed, bank or channel to recover minerals counts, so a highbanker or a power sluice running on stream gravel is a dredge for the law, with a gas pump or an electric one. Gear without a motor is exempt, and the law names panning for gold.
What the law says
“the use of a mechanized or motorized system for removing or assisting in the removal of, or the processing of, material from the bed, bank, or channel of a river, stream, or lake in order to recover minerals.”
What the law says
“This section and Section 5653.1 do not apply to, prohibit, or otherwise restrict nonmotorized recreational mining activities, including panning for gold.”
Owning a dredge near closed water is an offense in itself, and using one is a misdemeanor.
What the law says
“It is unlawful to possess a vacuum or suction dredge in areas, or in or within 100 yards of waters, that are closed to the use of vacuum or suction dredges.”
SB 637 also put the Water Boards in front of the Department: no dredge permit can be issued until the miner has a water-quality approval from the Water Boards, and the law added Water Code 13172.5 ↗ on their powers over dredging. The State Water Board drafted a statewide permit in 2020, then stopped.
What the agency says
“The State Water Board is dedicating its staff resources towards the reissuance of existing NPDES permits, as provided in the State Water Board 2023 Strategic Plan and is not proceeding with further development of a statewide NPDES permit for suction dredge mining at this time.”
— State Water Resources Control Board, NPDES Suction Dredge Mining (page updated August 24, 2026) ↗
The ban holds on federal land and on mining claims. In People v. Rinehart, a case about a miner who dredged on his claim in the Plumas National Forest, the California Supreme Court ruled on August 22, 2016 that federal mining law does not override it.
What the law says
“We conclude the state's moratorium is not preempted.”
— People v. Rinehart, California Supreme Court, S222620 (2016) ↗
Two gray zones are left. The first is a highbanker on material that does not come from a stream, such as a dry bench or a hillside. That is outside the words of section 5653, but taking water from a stream or changing its bank or bed needs a notification to the Department under section 1602, and section 5650 forbids putting into a stream anything harmful to fish, sand and gravel from outside the water included.
What the agency says
“Fish and Game Code section 1602 requires that any person notify the Department before substantially diverting or obstructing the natural flow of, or substantially changing or using any material from the bed, channel or bank of any river, stream or lake.”
— California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Suction Dredge Permits ↗
What the agency says
“If you are not certain a particular activity requires notification, CDFW recommends you notify.”
— California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Lake and Streambed Alteration Program ↗
A Lake and Streambed Alteration notification is not a hobby permit: under the 2026 fee schedule a standard agreement for a project costing less than 5,000 dollars is 770.75 dollars (LSA fees ↗).
The second gray zone is a drywasher with a battery or an engine in a desert wash. The ban speaks of the bed, bank or channel of a river or stream, and for its own notification rule the Department counts streams that are dry for part of the year as streams. We found no published answer for drywashers: ask the CDFW regional office before you start.
Gold panning and rockhounding in California state parks
The state park rule book starts from a ban: no one may remove earth, sand, gravel, minerals, rocks or fossils from a park unit.
What the law says
“No person shall destroy, disturb, mutilate, or remove earth, sand, gravel, oil, minerals, rocks, paleontological features, or features of caves.”
Rockhounding is the exception, and for the Department it includes gold panning in the natural water-washed gravel of streams (14 CCR 4301(v) ↗). It is allowed only in units, or parts of them, posted as open, and under 14 CCR 4611 ↗: nothing for sale, no tools except the gold pan, no arrowheads or other artifacts, and at most 15 pounds a day.
What the law says
“One person may gather, in one day in one unit, not more than 15 pounds of mineralogical material or not more than one specimen plus 15 pounds of mineralogical material.”
What the law says
“Muddy water from panning operations must not be visible more than 20 feet from the panning operation.”
In state recreation areas, rockhounding is limited to beaches in the wave zone of lakes, bays, reservoirs and the ocean, and to beaches and gravel bars of streams that flood every year. The law allows recreational collecting of mineral specimens in state beaches, state recreation areas and state vehicular recreation areas only with the director's prior approval.
What the law says
“The taking of mineral specimens for recreational purposes from state beaches, state recreation areas, or state vehicular recreation areas is permitted upon receiving prior approval of the director.”
Each park adds its own posted orders. At Plumas-Eureka State Park only Jamison Creek is open, and highbanking is prohibited.
What the agency says
“Gold panning shall be confined to the beaches and gravel bars of Jamison Creek which are subject to annual flooding.”
— Plumas-Eureka State Park, Superintendent Order 683-25-012 ↗
At Auburn State Recreation Area the district superintendent's order of January 5, 2026 bans even carrying a metal detector, except when it is carried, not used, in a vehicle on a public road or allowed by a permit. We found no statewide rule on metal detectors in state parks: ask the park before you bring one.
What the agency says
“No person shall possess a metal detector or other geophysical discovery device, or use a metal detector or other geophysical discovery techniques to locate or recover subsurface objects or features with in the Auburn State Recreation Area.”
Mining claims: the rule that matters most in California
On a valid claim the minerals belong to the claim holder, even on public land, so taking gold or stones from someone else's claim is theft. The rivers of the gold country are full of claims. Our maps show in red the places with a claim on record, and the Check claims (BLM) button on each pin opens the BLM's official claim map at that spot. Our national rules page explains how to read a claim on the ground.
Desert monuments and conservation areas
BLM California lists national conservation areas and national monuments among the special areas where collecting is prohibited, and says most monuments have extra rules. The Mojave Trails National Monument ↗, about 1.6 million acres of the Mojave Desert, is the one where the BLM says it plainly allows rockhounding.
What the agency says
“Rockhounding and invertebrate fossil collecting are family activities that have occurred in the Mojave Trails area for more than 100 years. Please follow BLM's casual use regulations when collecting in the Monument.”
The Chuckwalla National Monument ↗, about 624,270 acres where the Mojave and Colorado Deserts meet, and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument ↗, about 224,676 acres around the Medicine Lake Volcano run by the Forest Service, were both created on January 14, 2025. Both are closed to new mining claims, subject to valid existing rights. Chuckwalla's proclamation lists rockhounding among the area's recreation and asks the management plan to improve access for the permissible casual collection of rocks, without setting limits; Sáttítla's says nothing about collecting. When we checked, no proclamation had changed either of them. Ask the Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office for Chuckwalla and the Modoc, Shasta-Trinity or Klamath National Forest for Sáttítla before you collect.
What the law says
“from location, entry, and patent under the mining laws”
— Proclamation 10881, Establishment of the Chuckwalla National Monument (2025) ↗
What the law says
“improving access for recreation, hunting, dispersed camping, wildlife management, scientific research, and the permissible casual collection of rocks”
— Proclamation 10881, management plan of the Chuckwalla National Monument ↗
How much can you take in California?
On BLM land in California the BLM puts a number on reasonable amounts: 25 pounds plus one piece a day and 250 pounds a year, for mineral specimens, gemstones, other rocks, common invertebrate fossils and petrified wood, without motorized or mechanical tools. A group can't pool its allowances to take a bigger piece.
What the agency says
“Collection, excavation or removal are not aided with motorized or mechanical devices, including heavy equipment or explosives.”
What the law says
“The maximum quantity of petrified wood that any one person is allowed to remove without charge per day is 25 pounds in weight plus one piece, provided that the maximum total amount that one person may remove in one calendar year shall not exceed 250 pounds.”
In state parks the limit is 15 pounds a day, where collecting is posted as open. Nothing collected under any of these rules may be sold.
Warner Mountains obsidian and Big Sur jade
The obsidian of the Warner Mountains is collected with a free-use permit from the Modoc National Forest, available at the Supervisor's Office in Alturas, for personal use only: nothing may be sold, traded or bartered. The permit covers four designated sites on the Warner Mountain Ranger District, Middle Fork, Needles, Pink Lady and Rainbow; it allows up to two 5-gallon buckets, about 100 pounds, and up to three permits per person per season, and only hand tools. Collecting runs in summer: ask the Supervisor's Office for the season's dates.
What the agency says
“Up to two 5-gallon buckets or equivalent of obsidian may be collected per permit”
What the agency says
“Maximum piece size/weight: 100 lbs. – carried by individual unaided (maximum amount per permit)”
What the agency says
“Only manual methods are authorized for collecting obsidian”
On the Big Sur coast, jade may be collected inside the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary only in the area between the south Sand Dollar Beach stairway and Cape San Martin, from the mean high tide line out to a depth of 90 feet. Hand tools, lift bags up to 200 pounds of lift in total and boats other than personal watercraft are allowed; a loose piece too big for that needs a sanctuary permit.
What the law says
“Only jade already loose from the submerged lands of the Sanctuary may be collected”
— 15 CFR 922.132(a)(1)(i), Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary ↗
What the law says
“Each person may collect only what that person individually carries”
Whiskeytown: gold panning with a National Park Service permit
Unlike the national parks, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in Shasta County allows gold panning. Anyone 17 or older needs a permit, sold at the visitor center or on Recreation.gov, plus the park entrance pass. Only a gold pan and a small trowel or spoon are allowed; metal detectors, sluices, rockers, dredges and any digging above the water line or into the bank are prohibited, and Clear Creek is closed to panning from the mouth of Paige Bar Creek to the Whiskeytown Environmental School bridge.
What the agency says
“The permit costs one dollar and is valid for one year from the date of purchase.”
What the law says
“Removing gold by any method other than gold panning, including, but not limited to, the use of suction, a crevice cleaner, screen separator, view box, sluice box, rocker, dredge or any other mechanical or hydraulic device”
When hobby digging becomes mining in California
The state's surface mining law, SMARA, counts prospecting and dredging as surface mining (Public Resources Code 2735 ↗), but it does not apply below a size threshold, which hobby digging stays far under: less than 1,000 cubic yards moved in one place and less than one acre disturbed.
What the law says
“Prospecting for or the extraction of minerals for commercial purposes where the removal of overburden or mineral product totals less than 1,000 cubic yards in any one location and the total surface area disturbed is less than one acre.”
On federal land, mechanized earth-moving equipment is never casual use: it needs a notice or a plan of operations with the BLM or the Forest Service.
Fossils, bones and artifacts in California
On land owned or controlled by the state, a county, a city, a district or any other public agency, digging or removing paleontological or archaeological features is a misdemeanor without the agency's express permission, punishable by a fine of up to 10,000 dollars, up to a year in county jail, or both. That covers state parks and beaches, county and regional parks, State Lands Commission land and the roadsides of state highways and county roads.
What the law says
“A person shall not knowingly and willfully excavate upon, or remove, destroy, injure, or deface, any historic or prehistoric ruins, burial grounds, archaeological or vertebrate paleontological site, including fossilized footprints, inscriptions made by human agency, rock art, or any other archaeological, paleontological or historical feature, situated on public lands, except with the express permission of the public agency having jurisdiction over the lands.”
That leaves BLM land and the national forests, where common invertebrate and plant fossils can be collected for personal use and vertebrate fossils never (see our national page), and private land with the owner's permission. In state parks, objects of archaeological or historical interest are protected by 14 CCR 4308 ↗, and on Department of Fish and Wildlife lands no visitor may disturb geological formations or artifacts.
What the law says
“mine or disturb geological formations, archeological, cultural or anthropological artifacts, structures, or resources”
If you find a bone, a skull or an artifact, leave it where it lies, take a picture and the location, and tell the land agency.
Permits and costs
Suction dredge permit (Department of Fish and Wildlife)
What you need: Suction dredges, and highbankers or power sluices on stream gravel
Cost: Not issued: the state cannot issue dredge permits while the ban lasts
Lake or Streambed Alteration notification (Department of Fish and Wildlife)
What you need: Diverting water from a stream, or changing or using material from its bed, channel or bank
Cost: 770.75 dollars for a standard agreement on a project under 5,000 dollars (2026 schedule)
Gold panning permit (Whiskeytown National Recreation Area)
What you need: Panning at Whiskeytown, age 17 and older
Cost: One dollar, valid one year, plus the park entrance pass
Obsidian free-use permit (Modoc National Forest)
What you need: Collecting obsidian at the four Warner Mountains sites: Middle Fork, Needles, Pink Lady, Rainbow
Cost: Free; up to three permits per person per season
Notice of intent (Forest Service)
What you need: Work in a national forest that might cause significant disturbance of surface resources; on the San Bernardino National Forest also panning, drywashing and metal detecting in the listed sensitive areas
Cost: No fee in 36 CFR 228.4
Who to ask
Where the rules leave a gray zone, ask the office in charge directly, and get the answer in writing if you can.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Ask about: The dredge and motor ban, drywashers in washes, Lake and Streambed Alteration notifications (regional offices)
Phone: 916-445-0411
Address: 715 P Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
State Water Resources Control Board and Regional Water Quality Control Boards
Ask about: Water-quality approval for dredging and discharges into streams
California State Parks
Ask about: Posted orders of each park: panning areas, rockhounding, metal detectors
California State Lands Commission
Ask about: Beds of navigable rivers and lakes, state school lands
Phone: 916-574-1900
Address: 100 Howe Avenue, Suite 100 South, Sacramento, CA 95825
BLM California State Office
Ask about: Collecting on BLM land, limits, national monuments and conservation areas
Phone: 916-978-4400
Email: BLM_CA_Web_SO@blm.gov
Address: 2800 Cottage Way, Suite W1623, Sacramento, CA 95825
BLM Mother Lode Field Office (El Dorado Hills)
Ask about: BLM land in the gold country of the central Sierra foothills
Phone: 916-941-3101
Email: BLM_CA_Web_ML@blm.gov
Address: 5152 Hillsdale Circle, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
BLM Needles Field Office
Ask about: Mojave Trails National Monument and its collecting areas
Phone: 760-326-7000
Email: BLM_CA_Web_NE@blm.gov
Address: 1303 S. Highway 95, Needles, CA 92363
BLM Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office
Ask about: Chuckwalla National Monument
Phone: 760-833-7100
Email: BLM_CA_Web_PS@blm.gov
Address: 1201 Bird Center Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262
Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region
Ask about: National forests in California, notices of intent, local closures
Modoc National Forest, Supervisor's Office (Alturas)
Ask about: Warner Mountains obsidian permits, Sáttítla Highlands
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area
Ask about: Gold panning permits and closed stretches
Phone: 530-242-3400
Address: P.O. Box 188, Whiskeytown, CA 96095
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
Ask about: Jade collecting off Big Sur and permits for large pieces
Questions and answers
Do I need a permit to pan for gold in California?
Not on BLM land or in most of the national forests: a gold pan is casual use there, and state law exempts panning from the dredge ban by name. You still can't pan on someone else's claim, on Department of Fish and Wildlife lands or in national parks, and in state parks only where panning is posted as open. Whiskeytown National Recreation Area sells a one-dollar yearly permit.
Is suction dredging legal in California?
No. Suction dredging has been banned in every river, stream and lake since 2009, the Department of Fish and Wildlife cannot issue permits, and owning a dredge in or within 100 yards of closed waters is also illegal. The California Supreme Court upheld the ban on federal land and mining claims in People v. Rinehart (2016).
Can I use a highbanker or a power sluice in California?
Not on material from a stream's bed, bank or channel: since 2016 the law treats any motorized or mechanized system that digs or processes stream material as suction dredging, whether the pump runs on gas or electricity. On dry ground away from streams it is a gray zone: the ban's words don't cover it, but taking water from a stream may need a 1602 notification. Ask the Department of Fish and Wildlife regional office first.
Can I use a sluice box or a rocker without a motor?
Yes. The law says the ban does not apply to nonmotorized recreational mining, and on BLM land non-motorized sluicing is casual use. State parks are different: there, the gold pan is the only tool allowed.
Can I use a metal detector in California?
On BLM land and in the national forests, yes. Not in national parks. In state parks there is no statewide published rule and some parks ban them outright, such as Auburn State Recreation Area: ask the park before you go.
Can I pan for gold in California state parks?
Only in parks or parts of parks posted as open, with a gold pan and nothing else, up to 15 pounds of material a day and never for sale. Auburn State Recreation Area, South Yuba River State Park and Plumas-Eureka State Park (Jamison Creek only) allow it.
Can I collect fossils in California?
On BLM land and in the national forests, common invertebrates and plant fossils for personal use; vertebrate fossils never. On any land owned by the state, a county or a city, including state parks, county parks and road cuts, removing fossils without the agency's permission is a misdemeanor. On private land, with the owner's permission.
How much can I take from BLM land in California?
Up to 25 pounds plus one piece a day and 250 pounds a year of mineral specimens, gemstones, rocks, common invertebrate fossils and petrified wood, for your own collection, never for sale, and without motorized tools. If you want more than 250 pounds of rock in a year, the BLM asks you to arrange a purchase at the local office.
More about California
Sources
- California Fish and Game Code 5653 (suction dredging, definition and possession)
- California Fish and Game Code 5653.1 (the dredging moratorium)
- California Fish and Game Code 5650 (substances harmful to fish)
- California Water Code 13172.5 (Water Boards and suction dredging)
- California Department of Fish and Wildlife: Suction Dredge Permits
- California Department of Fish and Wildlife: Lake and Streambed Alteration Program
- California Department of Fish and Wildlife: LSA fees (2026)
- State Water Resources Control Board: NPDES Suction Dredge Mining
- People v. Rinehart, California Supreme Court, S222620 (2016)
- 14 CCR 4301, state park definitions (rockhounding)
- 14 CCR 4307, geological features in state parks
- 14 CCR 4308, archaeological features in state parks
- 14 CCR 4309, special permits in state parks
- 14 CCR 4611, rockhounding and gold panning in state parks
- California Public Resources Code 5001.65 (mineral specimens in state beaches and recreation areas)
- California State Parks: Auburn State Recreation Area, gold panning regulations
- Auburn State Recreation Area: Order 690-053-2026, metal detectors
- California State Parks: South Yuba River State Park, gold panning regulations
- Plumas-Eureka State Park: Superintendent Order 683-25-012
- California State Parks: Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park
- 14 CCR 550, Department of Fish and Wildlife lands
- California Department of Fish and Wildlife: California Outdoors Q&A, gold panning
- California Public Resources Code 5097.5 (archaeological and paleontological features on public lands)
- California Public Resources Code 2714 and 2735 (SMARA)
- California State Lands Commission: about the Commission
- 43 CFR 3809.5, definition of casual use
- 36 CFR 228.4, notice of intent in national forests
- 43 CFR 3622.4, petrified wood collection rules
- BLM California: Recreation Activities, Rockhounding
- BLM: Mojave Trails National Monument
- BLM: Chambless Rock Collecting Area
- Proclamation establishing the Mojave Trails National Monument (2016)
- Proclamation 10881, Establishment of the Chuckwalla National Monument (2025)
- Proclamation 10882, Establishment of the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument (2025)
- San Bernardino National Forest: Prospecting
- Modoc National Forest: Permits, obsidian collection
- 15 CFR 922.132, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (jade collection)
- 36 CFR 7.91, Whiskeytown (gold panning)
- National Park Service: Whiskeytown, Gold Panning
- Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region
- 36 CFR 2.1, resources in National Park Service units
- 16 USC 1133, uses allowed in wilderness areas