What kind of mementos, if any, am I allowed to collect from State and National parks in small quantities?

Question

What kind of mementos am I allowed to collect from State and National parks in small quantities, if any? I am especially wondering about:

• pebbles, shells, sea-urchin-skeletons, sand-dollar-skeletons (coastal State Parks)
• pine cones (forested National Parks)
• cholla-cactus-skeletons, rocks and minerals (desert State and National Parks)

Is it ever OK to take something living to plant at home, like cactus leaves?

Answer 1

The old advice is to "Take nothing but pictures, and leave nothing but footprints"

Almost any amount of memento-taking is going to lead to some kind of impact in anything but the most isolated of areas. Beyond that statement, the details of what is and isn't legal are going to vary with the exact area you're in -in the US, Wilderness Areas, a national forests, Bureau of Land Management's land, and state forests, all have different governing bodies and different sets of rules. Even different national parks are allowed to set their own rules. But I think they all prohibit you from taking mementos.

And, besides all that, I find that in this age of social networking and photo sharing sites, a handful of good pictures can capture the experiences of my trips better than physical stuff does, although that's purely subjective.

Answer 2

Generally speaking in the US, you can collect as much as you want from the gift shops.

Otherwise, everything else is strictly forbidden.

Answer 3

One of my favorite things to collect from National Parks is a stamp for my park passport. There are cancellation stamps in many national parks and sets of full-color stamps you can buy at the gift shop.

And please take the other answers to heart. Millions of us enjoy the parks system every year.

Answer 4

I have a lot of experience with the federal lands, and the rules are pretty much the same between agencies, whether the Bureau of Land Management or the National Park Service or the US Forest Service.

The rule is: don't remove anything. There are some serious consequences, even a felony in some cases.

• You can't take rocks or even pine cones. Or flowers.
• Parts of animals are also illegal to remove - for example: deer antlers.
• No disturbing archaeological sites or collecting artifacts. If someone messes with an archaeological site, this is a felony, for example.

I agree with DavidR, in that in this digital era, many things are shared better via video or photograph, as it can be more widely shared.

This may seem obvious, but this is for the collective good. Simply put, if we all took a flower, there wouldn't be any or a few flowers. I realize sounds overly simple, but the logic applies.

Not sure about state lands, but I'm sure similar laws apply.

Answer 5

Generally in a national part, national monument, or official wilderness area in the US, don't take anything. These areas are managed with preservation being a high or the highest goal. We simply can't have every human on earth take even a small rock. All parts of the environment are connected. No matter how harmless or inconsequential you think some item it, it is meaningful and important to some critter or to the ecosystem as a whole in large enough quantities.

The rules are different in national forests, which are public resources, although they must be used in a sustainable way. Some forests allow you to cut a certain amount of firewood, for example, during some season. Lots of forests allow hunting. There are areas where you are allowed to collect a certain type of rock. Some forest allow cutting of christmas trees. All these activities are regulated and usually limited. Hunting is only allowed at certain times and for certains species. The rock collecting is limited to some number or weight.

I don't think there is anything you are allowed to collect accross all the forests all the time. Each forest has their own rules, based on their own management plan. The bottom line is, assume you can't collect anything in a national forest unless you have asked and know exactly what can be collected under what conditions. A formal permit may be required, which may cost money. Penalties for violation can be steep.

Answer 6

Legally the answer is "nothing" in the National Parks of Canada. I think the US is similar.

Ethically the best touchstone is the Kantian ethic: What would be the result of everyone doing this? As part of that, examine the renewal time, and the numbers of the thing in question and the number of visitors.

E.g. Taking the pine cone unless the pine is uncommon seems to me to be fine. A cone on the ground has already dispersed it's seeds. A cone is a byproduct. I'm removing a small amount of carbon from the environment. If campfires are allowed in an area, then removing a cone is not unreasonable. I would apply this to common shells on the beach too. They will soon be ground to dust.

I have several fossils that have come from our provincial forests. Mountain slopes where the fossil is common, or on eroding river banks. Tehir lifespan is short, once exposed.

Taking seeds of wildflowers again is fine -- my rule of thumb is to collect seeds from one plant in a clump of 100 plants, and to do so only a hundred yards from any trail. Even that would depend on it being a moderately low use area.

Removal of live plants is rarely successful, unless you have done your homework, understand their environment, and already have a created one back at the lab. This may be appropriate if you are a serious botanist trying to establish a breeding population of a plant. Again -- way off the beaten track, and never more than 1% of the visible population from wehre you stand.

A twig, a pebble, I don't see the problem, but I don't see the point either.