Metal Detecting in Missouri

1. The rule, in full

Missouri – 10 CSR 90-2.030(27), which hands the rule to policy

Read from the Code of State Regulations published by the Missouri Secretary of State, 10 CSR 90-2 (pages dated 11/30/25); rule 90-2.030 last "Amended: Filed May 28, 2025, effective Dec. 30, 2025." Division of State Parks policy read from mostateparks.com. Checked 21 Sep 2026.

Operative text, 10 CSR 90-2.030(27):

"(A) State parks and historic sites provide opportunities for our visitors to engage in varied recreational activities. However, the division maintains the right to prohibit or otherwise restrict recreational activities that are not in keeping with the mission and objectives of the Department of Natural Resources, that may damage property, that require special safety measures, or that conflict with other uses of an area. Such prohibitions or restrictions shall be determined by the director, who may establish policy or procedures to regulate conduct. (B) Specific recreational activities that are restricted by policy include using metal detectors, caving, rock climbing and rappelling, diving, and conducting special events and activities."

Scope: the rule's stated purpose is the use of facilities "provided in state parks", and (27)(A) speaks of "State parks and historic sites" under the Division of State Parks.

Determination: 10 CSR 90-2.030(27) covers Division of State Parks land only. It does NOT reach municipal parks, and it does NOT reach Department of Conservation land, which is a different agency with its own chapter, below.

The second instrument: Department of Conservation areas, 3 CSR 10-11

Read from the Code of State Regulations published by the Missouri Secretary of State, chapter 3 CSR 10-11 (pages dated 7/31/26) and the Wildlife Code definitions chapter 3 CSR 10-20.805 (7/31/24), both PDFs parsed locally. Checked 3 Oct 2026.

Added 3 Oct 2026 during the forestry and wildlife sweep. This is a different agency, not a different division. The entry above concerns the Division of State Parks, in the Department of Natural Resources. The Department of Conservation is established separately under Art. IV, sections 40 and 45 of the Missouri Constitution, which is the authority 3 CSR 10-11.105 cites, and it manages roughly a thousand conservation areas. Nothing in 10 CSR 90-2 touches them.

Scope, 3 CSR 10-11.105:

"The special regulations in this chapter apply on lands and waters (referred to as department areas) owned or leased by the Department of Conservation."

That parenthesis is the whole definition. "Department areas" does not appear in the Wildlife Code's own definitions chapter, 3 CSR 10-20.805, which was read in full; 10-11.105 is the only place the term is fixed.

Operative text, 3 CSR 10-11.110(1):

"Department areas may be used only as authorized by this chapter, except these rules shall not restrict department employees or their designees when conducting official events or activities. (A) Department areas designated as open to the public may be accessed and used for hiking, sightseeing, and nature observation. … (C) The following activities are prohibited on department areas and may not be authorized by a special use permit: 1. Destruction, defacing, or removal of department property; 2. Digging or excavating, except for scientific purposes as authorized by a Letter of Authorization for Plant Collecting;
3. Guiding for pay; …"

Determination: on Department of Conservation land, digging or excavating is prohibited outright and cannot be permitted. That is the part a reader acts on. Recovering a detected target means digging, and 10-11.110(1)(C)2 forecloses it in terms, with the clause "and may not be authorized by a special use permit" removing the route that exists for most other restricted activities in the chapter. The exception is a Letter of Authorization for Plant Collecting, for scientific purposes, which is not a detecting permit by any reading.

Borderline: the chapter never names metal detectors, and we are not reading a sweeping ban into an enumeration.

The structure invites one. 10-11.110(1) says department areas "may be used only as authorized by this chapter"; (1)(A) names hiking, sightseeing and nature observation; (1)(B) lists the activities the chapter authorises elsewhere, and metal detecting is not among them. On that reading, carrying a detector across a conservation area is already an unauthorised use before anyone digs.

But the rule does not say so, and the inference is ours, not the Code's. A permissive-by-enumeration structure can as easily be read as regulating the listed activities and leaving ordinary presence alone – nobody thinks birdwatching with binoculars needs to appear on the list. This entry therefore states what is established and stops. Digging: prohibited, no permit. Sweeping without digging: unsettled, and nothing in chapter 10-11 settles it.

This is the same treatment as Oklahoma's "exploration", Ohio's "archaeological survey or salvage work" and Georgia's "recreational area". The practical answer is the same as theirs too: the Department of Conservation can say what it permits on its own land, and a reader who wants to sweep a conservation area should ask it, because the digging prohibition means a find cannot lawfully be recovered either way.

Conservation-area sources: sos.mo.gov 3c10-11.pdf and 3c10-20.pdf (PDFs, parsed locally); Art. IV secs 40, 45, Mo. Const. as cited in 10-11.105. Checked 3 Oct 2026.

The rule delegates to policy, so here the policy is the operative text. This is the reverse of Florida: Missouri's regulation names metal detectors and says the restriction lives in policy. The Division publishes it:

"metal detecting is allowed in certain areas in 11 state parks; however, registration is required. The activity is allowed only on specific sand beaches at these state parks"

"State parks and historic sites protect our natural and cultural history, and no object of historical or archaeological value or interest may be removed from a state park."

The registration form lists the eleven: Cuivre River, Finger Lakes, Lake of the Ozarks, Lake Wappapello, Long Branch, Pomme de Terre, Stockton, Trail of Tears, Harry S Truman, Mark Twain and Watkins Mill, each with seasonal hours. Registration is free and "must be completed each calendar year". Its rules include:

"Any solid-faced digging or probing tool cannot exceed 12 inches in overall length and 3 inches in width. Any sand digging or sifting scoop cannot exceed 12 inches in overall length and 6 inches in width. Suction dredges and grappling hooks may not be used."

"Contact the facility manager if a historic, archaeological or item valued at $10 or more is found."

The page must say the list, hours and tool limits are Division policy under (27)(B), not text of the regulation, and carry the checked date: a policy can change without a rulemaking.

No statute reaches municipal land. The Revised Statutes of Missouri were searched for an antiquities provision. RSMo 253.420 requires a permit for salvage or excavation of a submerged or embedded abandoned shipwreck meeting National Register criteria. RSMo 194.410.1 makes it a class E felony to knowingly disturb "a marked or unmarked human burial site", wherever it is. Neither is a detecting rule, and no general antiquities act reaching city land was found.

Sources: sos.mo.gov 10 CSR 90-2 (PDF, parsed locally); mostateparks.com activity/metal_detecting and form/metal-detecting-registration-form; revisor.mo.gov 253.420, 194.410. Checked 21 Sep 2026.

2. Cities in Missouri that publish a rule

6 cities in Missouri publish a rule we can quote, out of 79 checked.

Of the 79 checked, 42 had pages on the city’s own site that we found and read. For the other 37 we could not locate a municipal source, so nothing is claimed about them either way.

3. County rules

Awaiting review. None of the city or county rows publishes until its status is set and its quotation chosen by hand.

4. Cities checked — no published rule

Awaiting review. None of the city or county rows publishes until its status is set and its quotation chosen by hand.