[Rockhounds] Speaking of garnets...

[Lanny]

I should have ended my response to John that in the area we've been 
discussing, my experience has been the same as what Don describes 
below. Most of the land is not in any closures or withdrawals, although 
some of it is most likely in some sort of "study area," especially if 
you get very far off the road. Surface collecting with hammer and 
chisel or just picking up loose material doesn't appear to bother 
anyone.

The only exceptions would be those areas mentioned before where a lot 
of digging has disturbed the surface, and/or the land is acquired: 
Purdue Creek area, Emerald Creek, some drainages on Marble Creek, Cat's 
Spur Creek and probably a few others.

Regards,

Lanny

On Oct 16, 2007, at 9:20 PM, DonH wrote:

> Lanny wrote:
>
>
>> Even though we tend to say that BLM and FS land is open to 
>> rockhounding activities, one should really check specific areas 
>> before doing any digging, and any sort of mineral removal, even if 
>> just picking it up off the surface. That's what we should do, but old 
>> habits are hard to break... .
>
>
> For what it's worth, the FS is very sensitive about the Emerald Creek 
> area, and disturbing the stream bed.  As far as the more remote areas, 
> one or two phone calls to the office have yielded no clear results.  I 
> haven't thought much about it since all my collecting is done for 
> research or school trips, and all that is from either float, road 
> cuts, or outcrops.  I've never had to dig a hole out here.  In fact, 
> they just tore up the roads in the Moses Butte/Goat Mtn/Boehls Butte 
> area, filling in holes, and widening the sides, thus scattering large 
> rocks everywhere and making it easier to collect.
>
> Any time one of those pea-green FS trucks drives by, we just wave at 
> each other, and they never stop to ask what I'm doing.  Frankly I 
> think they have far more important things to do, like deal with forest 
> fires, ATVs, campers, hunters, tree management, counting wolves, and 
> closing roads.
>
> I realize this doesn't offer any more official info than before, but 
> at least I can offer my experiences in the matter.
>
>
> Good luck,
> Don
>
>
> -- 
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