I'm looking for fossil sites (places where the public is allowed to
hunt for fossils) in southern Arizona or southeast california. I have
already found http://www.colossal-fossil-site.com/ and a book by
someone named Eckert, but neither was of much help.
http://www.gtlsys.com/ is a good site but only covers california and
only has a few locations.

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Clarification of Question by jwucd-ga on 26 Dec 2003 22:14 PST

http://www.pressroom.com/~cromag/fossils.html is also a good site.
Books and local groups are good too.

Hi jwucd-ga, 

To my surprise there is no shortage of land for you to hunt for
fossils and legally collect them in Arizona and Southeastern
California. At first I could find nothing, but then I looked up the
fossil collecting regulations for Bureau of Land Management public
lands and this is what I found:

--------------------------------------------------
BLM BROCHURE ? ?THEY WALKED HERE LONG AGO?
http://www.blm.gov/nhp/pubs/They_Walked_Here.pdf


?What fossils can I collect from public lands? 

Visitors to public lands are welcome to collect reasonable amounts of
many kinds of fossils without a BLM permit. These materials must be
for your personal collection and cannot be sold or traded. No permit
is needed for plant fossils, such as leaves, stems, and cones, or
common invertebrate fossils, such as ammonites and trilobites.
Petrified wood can be collected too?up to 25 pounds each day, plus one
piece, but no more than 250 pounds in any calendar year.

A BLM permit is needed for the collection of vertebrate fossils, such
as dinosaur bones, fish, teeth of any kind, turtle shells, and tracks.
Vertebrate fossils are any remains or traces of animals with
backbones. BLM permits are generally issued only to professional
paleontologists, who must agree to preserve their finds in a public
museum, a college, or a university because of their relative rarity
and scientific importance.?


So, that said, I have found you the BLM public lands for the areas you
are interested in. Many of those seem like prime areas for fossil
hunting.


==================
PUBLIC LANDS:
==================

ALL BLM Public lands
http://www.blm.gov/nhp/facts/

------------

ARIZONA
http://www.blm.gov/nhp/pubs/rewards/1997/az.html


?..Over 14 million acres of public lands are found throughout Arizona,
with the greatest concentration in the northwestern and west-central
part of the State?.

??Some of the nation's oldest and best preserved prehistoric and
historic sites are found on Arizona's public lands. These include
mammoth kill sites, remnants of a Spanish military fort, and Indian
dwellings more than 1,000 years old.?


For more information on Arizona fossil hunting
http://www.az.blm.gov/fr_search.htm


------------
CALIFORNIA 
http://www.blm.gov/nhp/pubs/rewards/1999/5ca.htm


-----------------
MOJAVE (MOHAVE) DESERT
http://www.blm.gov/education/00_resources/articles/mojave/mojave01a.html

During the Paleozoic era the Mojave Desert was covered by shallow
seas, as evidenced by fossil marine creatures in limestone and
dolomite.

-------------

TRILOBITE WILDERNESS
http://www.ca.blm.gov/needles/trilobite.htm

This wilderness is named for the fossils which can be found within the region.

-------------

Use this search page to find more California sites (select
?archeological ? cultural?)

https://doi1.ios.doi.gov/recsites.nsf/search?openform


---------

That should get you going?. happy hunting!

-K~

search terms:

fossil hunting southwest / California / Arizona 
fossil clubs Arizona / California / Southwest / Desert
Bureau of Land Management fossils
BLM public lands California / Arizona

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Clarification of Answer by knowledge_seeker-ga on 27 Dec 2003 09:43 PST

I just noticed this link doesn't work the way I expected. Go here:

For more information on Arizona fossil hunting
http://www.az.blm.gov/fr_search.htm

From the left hand column select:

RECREATION
Rockhounding

Then below the rockhouding page you will see a link to: Artifacts and Fossils

Sorry about that! 

-K~

Very helpful, thanks.

Hi jwucd,

On some of my hiking outings, I went fossil hunting.  Awesome!  :) 
Here's a link to fossils in Arizona:

Arizona At Your Service - Official Web Site of the State of Arizona 
http://www.az.gov/webapp/portal/SearchServlet?restrict=&q=fossils&x=22&y=5

Enjoy!
tlspiegel