Where to find petrified wood legally

What petrified wood is

The petrified wood of Arizona is almost solid quartz. The National Park Service explains that over 200 million years ago, logs washed into an ancient river system and were buried quickly and deeply under sediment. Silica dissolved from volcanic ash then soaked into the porous wood over hundreds and thousands of years and replaced it, cell by cell, as the wood broke down. Iron, carbon and manganese in the quartz give it its colors.

The federal rule on BLM land

• Daily limit: 25 pounds plus one piece per person.
• Yearly limit: 250 pounds per person per calendar year.
• No pooling: people may not combine their quotas to take a piece larger than 250 pounds.
• Big pieces: a specimen over 250 pounds needs a permit, which is granted only for public display in a museum or similar institution.
• Tools: no explosives or power equipment such as tractors, bulldozers or plows.
• Personal use: it shall not be sold or bartered to commercial dealers.
• Where: BLM and Bureau of Reclamation land is open unless a notice in the Federal Register says otherwise, but not developed recreation sites or areas where collecting is prohibited and posted.

BLM’s Arizona brochure words the limit as up to 25 pounds a day and 250 pounds a year for all rocks, without the extra piece, so in Arizona it is safest to stay within 25 pounds.

Where to look

• Arizona: BLM says petrified wood occurs on public land of its Hassayampa, Safford, Yuma and Arizona Strip field offices. Not in BLM national monuments and not on State Trust Land; check for mining claims first.
• Nevada: BLM Nevada applies the same limits and excludes wilderness areas, wilderness study areas, the Stewart Valley area near Gabbs and the Red Rock Canyon and Sloan Canyon National Conservation Areas. It also says petrified wood may not be traded, bartered or sold without a permit.
• Oregon and Washington: the same limits apply on BLM land, but campgrounds, cultural and historic sites and natural areas are off limits. BLM notes that petrified wood, like obsidian and chert, is not subject to mining claim location.
• Wyoming: BLM Wyoming applies the same limits, allows hand tools only and says collections may not be bartered or sold.

None of these official sources names a specific collecting spot, and we do not invent one. Call the BLM field office for the area you plan to visit.