Metal Detecting in Louisiana

On state park land

Permission needed

State land only. Louisiana was checked for municipal reach and does not have it.

La. R.S. 41:1601 et seq. · Checked 20 September 2026 · Consolidated statute

1. The rule, in full

Louisiana – NOT in this pattern. Reclassified.

Louisiana was flagged earlier as sharing the political-subdivision pattern. It does not, and the lead that put it here was wrong.

A search summary had described Louisiana as covering "archaeological resources on state-owned lands and lands belonging to political subdivisions." Read at source, RS 41:1605 covers:

"…any archaeological treasure located in, on or under the surface of lands belonging to the state of Louisiana, including its tidelands, submerged lands and beds of its rivers, and the sea within the jurisdiction of this state."

"Political subdivision" does appear in the statute – but as a category of actor who must obtain a permit ("unlawful for any agency, political subdivision, group, or person to take, alter, damage, destroy, or excavate on state-owned lands"), not as a category of land.

A parish or city in Louisiana needs a permit to dig on state land. The statute says nothing about digging on the city's own land.

Louisiana is an ordinary state-land state. It moves to the Category 1 list and does not answer any municipal row.

This is the fourth time a secondary claim has failed at the primary source, and the first where the failure would have widened a statute's reach rather than narrowed it. The error direction does not matter; the check does.


2. Cities in Louisiana that publish a rule

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

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.

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