Colorado Porch

Outdoors · Foraging & Collecting

Foraging, rockhounding & collecting in Colorado

Colorado is a treasure chest. You can hunt wild porcini in a spruce forest, dig sky-blue aquamarine on a 14,000-foot peak, pan for real gold in a mountain creek, pick raspberries by the trail, and cut your own Christmas tree. But "the outdoors is free" is not the same as "take whatever you want" — some things are fine to gather, some need a cheap permit, and a few will get you a federal charge.

Last checked against BLM, USFS, NPS, CPW, USFWS, and Colorado regulations: June 2026. Collecting rules, permits, firewood and Christmas-tree dates, closures, and protected-species rules change. Confirm with the exact land manager before you pick, dig, pan, cut, or carry anything home.

How to think about it

Five questions decide if you can keep it

Every "can I take this home?" question in Colorado comes down to these five. Run through them before you gather anything, and the rest of this page tells you the answers.

1

Whose land?

National forest, BLM, a national park, a state park, private, or a mining claim — this changes everything.

2

What object?

A mushroom, rock, antler, fossil, feather, or artifact — each has its own rule, and a few are flat-out illegal.

3

How much?

"Personal use" (a little for yourself) is usually fine; selling almost always needs a commercial permit.

4

What tool?

Hand tools are usually OK; motorized or mechanized gear (and explosives) usually aren't.

5

Permit or claim?

Many forest products need a cheap permit, and an active mining claim can lock up otherwise-public ground.

Start here

What are you after?

Where the rules change

Land by land

The fast reference for the first question — whose land. Always confirm with the specific manager, because limits and permits vary by forest and district.

National Forest (USFS)

Often OK — many products need a permit

Most personal-use foraging and collecting is allowed in reasonable amounts, but many forest products (mushrooms, firewood, Christmas trees, transplants, sometimes rocks) need a local permit, and the rules vary by forest and ranger district. Commercial harvest always needs a paid permit.

BLM

Personal use, hand tools

Small personal, noncommercial collecting of rocks, common plants, and similar is often allowed with hand tools. Rocks and petrified wood have a typical cap (about 25 lb/day, 250 lb/year — confirm locally). Watch for claims, developed sites, and closures.

National Parks & NPS Monuments

No collecting, period

Rocky Mountain NP, Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Florissant Fossil Beds, Dinosaur, and the rest — no rocks, plants, antlers, fossils, or even pinecones. Leave it where it lies.

Other national monuments

Follow that monument's plan

Not every "national monument" is a Park Service site. Some (like Browns Canyon) are managed by the BLM and Forest Service and follow that monument's own management plan — so check the specific monument and who runs it.

State Parks & Wildlife Areas (CPW)

Generally leave what you find

Usually no collecting of plants, rocks, wood, fossils, or antlers, with a few narrow posted exceptions (like gold panning in the Arkansas Headwaters area). You also need a pass or license to enter many of them.

Wilderness areas

Berries & mushrooms OK; no machines

Picking berries and mushrooms for personal use is usually fine, but no motors or mechanized gear and no commercial harvest — and any hand collecting (rocks, panning) must barely disturb the surface. Ask the local office.

Private land

Permission required

Only with the owner's permission — the landowner generally owns what's on the land.

Mining claims (on public land)

Off-limits without the holder's okay

Much of Colorado's best mineral ground is covered by active claims. The minerals there belong to the claim holder, so you can't collect rocks or pan for gold without permission — even on public land. You can look claims up through the BLM.

Tribal land (SW Colorado)

Tribal permission, not federal/state rules

The Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute reservations cover large parts of the southwest. State and federal collecting rules don't apply there — gathering anything (rocks, plants, wood, artifacts) generally needs tribal permission, and penalties for trespass or collecting are severe. Check with the tribe before you go near these boundaries.

How to know whose land — and whose claim

On the ground, a phone map app like onX, Gaia, or Avenza (with the free Forest Service MVUM) shows BLM vs. Forest Service vs. private boundaries — and Colorado's split estate means you can stand on public surface over privately owned minerals, or the reverse. To check for a mining claim, search the BLM's MLRS (the Mineral & Land Records System, which replaced the old LR2000 in 2021) and the county clerk-and-recorder's records, and watch for claim posts, corner markers, and notices in the field. When the map and a posted sign disagree, follow the sign.

Wild mushrooms

Colorado is one of the country's richer mushroom regions, with thousands of species. Foragers chase porcini (king boletes) up high (above ~9,000 feet), chanterelles on the Western Slope, and morels in last year's burn areas (burn scars hide their own hazards — standing dead snags, stump holes, and post-fire road and area closures, so check access first). It's a wonderful, tasty hobby. It can also kill you.

The rule that matters more than any other

Never eat a wild mushroom unless you're 100% certain what it is.

Colorado has deadly species — including poisonous Amanitas like the "destroying angel" — that can be mistaken for edible ones. Their poison can destroy your liver and kidneys, and the symptoms often don't start for 5 to 24 hours, sometimes too late to save you. Learn the warning features (white gills, a cup at the base, a ring on the stem), learn from experts, and when in doubt, throw it out. The best ID help is a local mycological society or a foray leader — not a phone-app guess from one photo. And if someone eats a questionable mushroom, don't wait for symptoms — call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 right away (or 911 if it's severe) and save a sample or spore print for ID, because the deadliest toxins can have a delayed, deceptively "better" phase before they hit.

Do you need a permit?

  • National forests: many require a free (or cheap) personal-use permit to pick mushrooms, and limits vary by forest and ranger district — get it at the local office. Picking to sell needs a paid commercial permit.
  • BLM: small amounts for personal use are generally fine.
  • State parks & wildlife areas: generally no mushroom collecting unless posted.
  • National parks: no.

Where to learn

Colorado has a great mushroom community: the Colorado Mycological Society (Denver area) and the Pikes Peak Mycological Society (Colorado Springs) hold meetings, forays, and ID help, and the Telluride Mushroom Festival is the famous late-summer celebration of all things fungi.

Wild edibles — berries, greens & nuts

Beyond mushrooms, Colorado's wild pantry includes raspberries, thimbleberries, currants, gooseberries, serviceberries, chokecherries, wild strawberries, and elderberries; greens like dandelion, lamb's quarters, purslane, and stinging nettle; and piñon (pine) nuts in the southwest.

Positive ID, every time. Some wild plants have dangerous look-alikes — for example, wild onions (which smell like onion) can be confused with death camas (deadly, and it doesn't smell like onion). If you're not sure, don't eat it — and never strip a patch; take a little and leave plenty.

Rocks, gems & minerals (rockhounding)

Colorado is one of the country's classic rockhounding states, with more than 30 gemstone varieties. Famous finds include aquamarine on Mount Antero (one of the highest gem fields on Earth), topaz and amazonite around Pikes Peak, agate and jasper on the eastern plains, and geodes near Cañon City.

The rules

  • BLM land: collect reasonable amounts of common rocks, mineral specimens, and semiprecious gems for personal, noncommercial use with hand tools (no motorized or mechanized gear, no explosives). The typical cap (the BLM's stated petrified-wood limit, which many offices apply to rock too) is about 25 lbs plus one piece per day, up to 250 lbs a year — confirm the exact rule with the local BLM office. No selling without authorization, and not on developed sites, closed areas, or active claims.
  • National forests: casual personal collecting of small amounts is generally allowed where it doesn't cause real ground disturbance, but some forests require a permit and some areas (wilderness, research natural areas, developed sites) are closed — check the district.
  • Watch for mining claims. A lot of Colorado's best ground is claimed, and you can't dig there without the claim holder's okay. (You can look claims up through the BLM.)
  • No collecting in national parks, NPS monuments, Wilderness (beyond minimal hand collecting where allowed), or city parks like Garden of the Gods.
  • Pay-to-dig sites (private fee mines) are a fun, legal, beginner-friendly option — Colorado favorites include the Topaz Mountain Gem Mine near Lake George and the amazonite-and-smoky-quartz claims around Crystal Peak near Florissant.

Colorado's claims to fame

State gem

Aquamarine

the sky-blue crystal of Mount Antero — one of the highest gem fields on Earth.

State mineral

Rhodochrosite

the rosy-red crystal from the Sweet Home Mine near Alma (the world-famous "Alma King").

State rock

Yule marble

from the town of Marble — the same stone used in the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Gold panning & prospecting

Yes — you can pan for real gold in Colorado, and people still do. This is the state of the 1859 gold rush, and the creeks of the Colorado Mineral Belt still carry flakes.

Fossils

Colorado is full of fossils — and the rules split by what kind:

Colorado's state fossil is the Stegosaurus, closely tied to the state, where early specimens were found.

The rule that surprises people

Shed antlers: a big winter closure west of I-25

"Shed hunting" — collecting the antlers deer, elk, and moose drop each winter — is hugely popular. But on all public land west of I-25, collecting shed antlers and horns is illegal from January 1 through April 30, every year, to protect deer, elk, moose, and sage grouse when they're barely surviving and any disturbance can be deadly. (East of I-25, there's no seasonal closure.)

  • Gunnison Basin extra rule: in GMUs 54, 55, 66, 67, and 551, from May 1–15 collecting is allowed only 10 a.m. to legal sunset (closed sunset to 10 a.m.).
  • Penalties add up fast: each violation is a $137 fine plus five license-suspension points, and the act of shed hunting and each individual antler can each count as a separate violation. Chasing wildlife to make them drop antlers is worse — a $137 fine with ten license points.
  • Private land isn't part of the closure, but you still need lawful access to be there.
  • A shed isn't a skull. A naturally dropped antler is generally fine to keep, but a skull or skullcap with antlers still attached — or antlers from an animal that died — can require proof it wasn't poached. And when you carry sheds or antlered skulls home, mind CWD carcass-transport rules (clean antlers are usually fine; a skull should have the soft tissue removed). The hunting and wildlife guides cover CWD.
  • If you're west of I-25 during the closure and see an antler, leave it — an officer can't tell you apart from someone who came to collect.
  • Report violations to Operation Game Thief: 1-877-265-6648.

Firewood & Christmas trees

Firewood

Christmas trees (a beloved Colorado tradition)

Plants, flowers & transplants

Leave it where it lies

Things you must never collect

These two trip up well-meaning people every year. Both are federal law, and the penalties are serious.

Artifacts (arrowheads, pottery, old tools)

It's illegal to dig up, collect, or remove archaeological or historic artifacts from public land — arrowheads, pottery shards, stone tools, old cabin or mining relics, and anything that could be a cultural or human-burial site. This is protected under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), and violations can be a felony. If you find something, leave it exactly where it is, take a photo, note the location, and report it. (On your own private land the rules differ — but human remains are always protected.) If you think you've found human remains or a burial, don't touch or disturb it — note the spot and call the county sheriff or local law enforcement.

Feathers, nests & eggs

This one shocks everyone: it's illegal to keep the feathers, nests, or eggs of almost all wild native birds — even a beautiful hawk or songbird feather you find on the ground. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act covers all feathers no matter how you got them — there's no exception for a molted feather or one from a road- or window-killed bird. Eagle feathers are protected even more strongly (only enrolled members of federally recognized tribes, through a federal repository, plus certain officials and licensed rehabbers). The safe move: admire it, photograph it, and leave it. (Exceptions: clearly non-native birds like pigeons, starlings, and peacocks, and birds you legally hunted.)

Colorado quirks

Things people get wrong

The surprises that keep you out of trouble — and a couple that are just fun.

No shed antlers west of I-25 from Jan 1 – April 30

It's a real, enforced closure to protect wintering wildlife — leave the antler where it lies. Fines run $137 per violation and stack up.

A wild mushroom can kill you, and you won't know for hours

Deadly Amanitas look innocent, and the poisoning often doesn't show up for 5–24 hours. Never eat any mushroom you can't identify with 100% certainty.

You can't legally keep most feathers

Even one you find on the ground, even a molted one. Eagle and hawk feathers especially. Admire and leave it.

You can't keep that arrowhead

Taking an artifact from public land is a federal crime under ARPA. Photograph it and report it.

National parks ban collecting everything

Not even a rock, a pinecone, or a wildflower. State parks are nearly as strict. But not every "monument" is a Park Service site — Browns Canyon is BLM/Forest Service.

Colorado's state rock built the Lincoln Memorial

Yule marble, from the town of Marble.

You can pan for real gold without a permit

On most open, unclaimed BLM/forest land — but a motorized dredge is a whole different (permitted) story, and mining claims lock up a lot of the best water.

You can keep a fossil leaf, but not a dinosaur bone

Vertebrate fossils are protected on public land — leave and report them. Common plant and invertebrate fossils can be collected in small amounts.

Cutting your own Christmas tree is legal and cheap

A permit is often around $20 — and it's free for 4th graders with an Every Kid Outdoors pass.

Rockhounding has a weight limit

On BLM land, typically about 25 lbs a day and 250 a year (confirm locally) — and the gem fields are at brutal altitude (Mount Antero tops 14,000 feet).

"Personal use" is the magic phrase

A little for yourself is usually fine; the moment you sell it — jam, jewelry made from collected stones, sheds, or mushrooms at a craft fair or online — you've crossed into commercial use, which almost always needs a permit.

Metal detecting has its own rules

Detecting for modern lost items (coins, jewelry) is generally OK on much BLM and Forest Service land and some state-park beaches — but digging for artifacts or relics is illegal under ARPA, and detecting is banned in national parks. Check the specific unit.

Wild onion vs. death camas

Some tasty wild plants have deadly twins. Wild onions smell like onion; death camas doesn't — and it can kill. If you're not 100% sure, don't eat it.

Stay safe out there

Safety in the high country

Mushrooms can be deadly

This is the #1 risk in this whole category — never eat a wild mushroom you can't identify with total certainty, and call Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) right away if someone eats a questionable one, saving a sample if you can.

Altitude & lightning

Gem fields and foraging spots are high. Acclimate, carry water, and be off exposed ridges by early afternoon when summer storms build.

Rattlesnakes

They live in the lower, rockier, grassy collecting areas — watch your hands and feet (see the wildlife guide).

Claims & trespass

Know whose land — and whose claim — you're on. "Public land" isn't always open to collecting, and claim ground is private as to its minerals.

Tell someone your plan

Cell service is often zero where the good stuff is. Leave your route and return time with someone.

Plain English

The words you'll see everywhere

A little foraging and rockhounding vocabulary, in plain English.

Forage

To gather wild food — mushrooms, berries, greens, nuts.

Rockhounding

Collecting rocks, minerals, and gems as a hobby.

Personal use vs. commercial

Gathering a little for yourself (often free or cheap, sometimes with a permit) vs. gathering to sell (needs a paid commercial permit).

Selling is the line that flips most rules.

Permit

The okay (often free or cheap) from the land agency to collect a forest product like mushrooms, firewood, or a Christmas tree.

Mining claim

A staked right to the minerals on a piece of public land. You can't collect rocks or gold there without the holder's permission.

Vertebrate fossil

A fossil of an animal with a backbone (dinosaur, fish, mammal). Protected on public land — you can't collect it.

ARPA

The Archaeological Resources Protection Act — the federal law protecting artifacts on public land. Violations can be a felony.

Migratory Bird Treaty Act

The federal law that makes keeping most wild native bird feathers, nests, and eggs illegal — even molted or found ones.

Shed (antler)

An antler an animal drops naturally each year. Collecting them is restricted by season west of I-25.

Pegmatite

The coarse rock that holds Colorado's gem crystals — aquamarine, topaz, amazonite.

Every Kid Outdoors

The federal program giving 4th graders free access — including a free Christmas tree permit.

FAQ

Quick answers

Can I forage on public land in Colorado?

It depends on whose land you're on. On national forest and BLM land, most personal-use foraging is allowed in reasonable amounts — though many forest products (mushrooms, firewood, Christmas trees) need a cheap local permit. National parks and NPS monuments ban nearly all collecting, and state parks are close behind. Selling what you gather almost always needs a commercial permit.

Do I need a permit to pick mushrooms or collect rocks?

Often, yes for mushrooms — many national forests require a free or cheap personal-use permit, and the limits vary by ranger district, so get it from the local office. For rocks on BLM land, reasonable personal-use amounts are usually allowed with hand tools (a common cap is about 25 lbs a day, 250 a year), but confirm locally and watch for mining claims.

Can I keep a feather I found on the ground?

Almost never. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act makes it illegal to keep the feathers, nests, or eggs of nearly all wild native birds — and there's no exception for a molted feather or one you simply found. Eagle and hawk feathers are protected even more strongly. The safe move: admire it, photograph it, and leave it. (Non-native birds like pigeons and starlings, and birds you legally hunted, are the exceptions.)

Can I keep an arrowhead or relic from public land?

No — it's a federal crime. The Archaeological Resources Protection Act protects artifacts (arrowheads, pottery, stone tools, old relics) on public land, and violations can be a felony. If you find something, leave it exactly where it is, take a photo, note the location, and report it to the land agency.

When can I collect shed antlers?

On all public land west of I-25, collecting shed antlers and horns is illegal from January 1 through April 30 every year, to protect wintering wildlife. The Gunnison Basin adds a May 1–15 rule (collecting only 10 a.m. to sunset). East of I-25 there's no seasonal closure. Violations are about $137 each plus license-suspension points, and they stack.

Can I pan for gold?

Yes — recreational panning and hand sluicing (a pan, shovel, small hand sluice) generally need no permit on open, unclaimed BLM and national-forest land. A motorized suction dredge is different and needs permits. The catch is mining claims: many of the best stretches are claimed, so verify the claim status (and the local rules) before you dig.

The official signpost

Where the real rules live

Colorado Porch explains; the land agencies and the law decide — and the rules change with the land you're on. When you need the exact, current rule, especially a permit or a limit, go straight to the source and confirm with the local office before you gather.

Last reviewed
June 2026

Use this carefully: Whether you can take something home depends on whose land you're on, what the object is, how much, what tool you use, and whether there's a permit or a mining claim. Permit rules and limits vary by forest and district; the National Park Service bans nearly all collecting; and selling almost always needs a commercial permit. Two innocent-looking mistakes — pocketing a feather (Migratory Bird Treaty Act) or an arrowhead (ARPA) — can be federal crimes, and shed-antler and species protections add more. Confirm with the exact land manager before you pick, dig, pan, cut, or carry anything home — and never eat a wild mushroom you can't identify with total certainty.

More official links

Every source in one place

For artifacts and feathers, the fine print is federal (ARPA and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act); for shed antlers it's CPW and Colorado law. Report wildlife violations to Operation Game Thief at 1-877-265-6648.

Next steps

Keep exploring the outdoors

Foraging and collecting is one piece of Colorado's outdoors. Here's where to head next.