Oregon · BLM
Oregon BLM rockhounding rules
Most legal Oregon rockhounding happens on BLM land. The BLM manages about 15.8 million acres here, most of it high desert east of the Cascades. Collect by hand, for yourself, a reasonable daily amount. The traps are claims, the western checkerboard and the overlays.
The rule
- The national baseline: “except on developed recreation sites and areas, or where otherwise prohibited and posted,” you may collect reasonable amounts of “rocks, mineral specimens, and semiprecious gemstones” for noncommercial use (43 CFR 8365.1-5(b)). No “explosive, motorized or mechanical devices, except metal detectors” (8365.1-5(a)(3)). Anything for sale or barter needs a contract or permit (8365.1-5(c)).
- How BLM Oregon/Washington sizes “reasonable”: its Rock Collecting Guide (posted 2024) says a reasonable daily amount “fits into the trunk of a car,” “is a partial pickup truck load,” “weighs less than 250 lbs,” and “the material is for non-commercial use.” For that, “no fee or BLM permit is required.” A full pickup load, more than one trip, more than 250 lb, commercial use, explosives or power equipment needs a fee and permit, Notice or Plan of Operations. Treat 250 lb as a ceiling, not a target. There is no Oregon yearly limit for ordinary rocks; verify with the district before heavy collecting.
- Petrified wood: free up to 25 lb plus one piece per person per day, no more than 250 lb a year, no pooling (43 CFR 3622.4).
- Common invertebrate and plant fossils: 25 lb per person per day, surface or non-powered hand tools, negligible disturbance, no sale (43 CFR 49.810). Vertebrate fossils need a permit.
- Field rules from the guide: know whose property you are on; dig no deeper than four feet and fill your holes; leave gates as you found them; check fire restrictions; “Stay out of old mines.”
- Quarry stockpiles are off limits: removing stockpiled road rock “is prohibited and considered theft of Federal property.”
Where you can't collect on Oregon BLM
- Active mining claims without permission. BLM's “Can I Keep This?” page: “collecting in these areas is prohibited without the claimholder's permission.” BLM's 2023 facts list 9,833 maintained claims across Oregon and Washington. Check MLRS.
- Campgrounds, cultural and historic sites, natural areas: the OR/WA guide calls them “off limits to collecting.”
- Wilderness and WSAs: “only non-motorized hand tools may be used, and the ground's surface may only be minimally disturbed.” BLM lists 9 wilderness areas and 82 WSAs on Oregon BLM land, most in the Vale, Burns, Lakeview and Prineville districts. ACECs can close or limit collecting through the land-use plan.
- Private sections in the O&C checkerboard. BLM: the O&C lands “lie in a checkerboard pattern through eighteen counties of western Oregon,” more than 2.4 million acres. Every other square mile may be private timberland.
- Artifacts, always. The OR/WA guide names “skeletal materials, arrowheads, flakes, pottery or potsherds, mats, rock art, old bottles, and pieces of equipment or buildings.” In obsidian country, a flake with a sharp edge and ripples is often tool debris. Leave it. Oregon's surface-arrowhead exception in ORS 358.920 does not override BLM's own rules.
Glass Buttes obsidian area
The OR/WA guide names “the Glass Buttes obsidian area in our Prineville District” as set aside for collecting. The Ochoco National Forest's rocks page says: “The area around Glass Buttes has been designated for recreational obsidian collecting; mining claims may not be filed for obsidian or chalcedony (agate).” It lists gold sheen, silver sheen, fire sheen, rainbow, midnight lace, double flow and mahogany obsidian. The reasonable-day rule applies. Edges are razor sharp, so wear gloves and eye protection. Verify current access roads and posted site rules with the Prineville District.
Who to call
Lakeview 541-947-6100 · Prineville 541-416-6700 · Burns 541-573-4400 · Vale 541-473-3144 · Medford 541-618-2200 · Roseburg 541-440-4930 · Coos Bay 541-756-0100 · Northwest Oregon (Salem) 503-375-5646. Numbers are from blm.gov office pages; confirm before you call. Give the township, range and section when you ask.
Compare: Arizona BLM rules · Nevada BLM rules · Utah BLM limits.
Sources: BLM OR/WA, Rock Collecting on Public Lands in Oregon and Washington (2024); BLM OR/WA Facts 2023; 43 CFR 8365.1-5; 43 CFR 3622; 43 CFR 49; BLM, Can I Keep This?; BLM, O&C Lands; Ochoco NF, Rocks & Minerals; ORS 358.920; BLM office pages.
Informational only — not legal advice. Rules, boundaries and seasons change. Confirm with the managing agency for the exact parcel before you collect. Last verified October 26, 2026.