Metal Detecting in Minnesota

1. The rule, in full

Minnesota – Minn. R. 6100.0900, subp. 2(F)

Read from Minnesota Rules published by the Revisor of Statutes (revisor.mn.gov, "Official Publication of the State of Minnesota"), part 6100.0900, history 14 SR 2497; 24 SR 208. Checked 21 Sep 2026.

Operative text, 6100.0900, subp. 2(F):

"Except for scientific research conducted under special permit from the commissioner and with a field archaeology license issued by the state archaeologist, the use of metal detectors in state parks is permitted only for locating specifically identified items of lost personal property. Metal detectors may be used only with prior written permission from the park manager and under the supervision of the park manager."

Scope, 6100.0300:

"Unless stated otherwise, parts 6100.0100 to 6100.2400 apply to all state parks and forest lands under the control of or operated by the commissioner of natural resources."

Determination: DNR state parks only. Does NOT reach municipal parks. Subpart 2 is headed "State parks", and item F speaks only of state parks, so the rule does not extend to DNR forest lands either.

Recreational detecting has no route at all in a Minnesota state park. The only uses are research under permit plus a field archaeology licence, and a lost-property search with the manager's prior written permission and supervision.

The Minnesota result is not "state land only". The Field Archaeology Act reaches archaeological sites owned by a county, township or municipality. See the political-subdivision entry. The statute pass recorded Minnesota as state parks only; that was the park rule, and the Act was never read.

Sources: revisor.mn.gov rules 6100.0100, 6100.0200, 6100.0300, 6100.0900. Checked 21 Sep 2026.

2. Where it reaches city and county land

Minnesota – Minn. Stat. 138.31 to 138.42 (Field Archaeology Act)

Read from the 2025 Minnesota Statutes published by the Revisor of Statutes (revisor.mn.gov), sections 138.31, 138.32, 138.33, 138.35, 138.36, 138.40 and 138.41. Checked 21 Sep 2026.

Operative text, 138.33:

"No person, including state or other public employees other than the state archaeologist and individuals duly licensed by the director of the Minnesota Historical Society shall engage in any field archaeology on any state site."

Definition, 138.31 subd. 7:

"'Field archaeology' means the study of the traces of human culture at any land or water site by means of surveying, digging, sampling, excavating, or removing objects, or going on a site with that intent."

Scope: reaches municipal land, but only archaeological sites on it. 138.31 subd. 14:

"'State site' or 'state archaeological site' means a land or water area, owned or leased by or subject to the paramount right of the state, county, township, or municipality where there are objects or other evidence of archaeological interest. This term includes all aboriginal mounds and earthworks, ancient burial grounds, prehistoric ruins, historical remains, and other archaeological features on state land or on land subject to the paramount rights of the state. Historical remains do not include bottles or ceramics manufactured after 1875."

Despite its name, a "state site" includes an archaeological site owned by a county, township or city. An ordinary city park that holds no evidence of archaeological interest is not a site and is not reached.

Same instrument as Wisconsin, with the Massachusetts intent clause. Minnesota's definition of field archaeology is Wisconsin's 44.47(1)(d) with one clause added: "or going on a site with that intent". That clause is in the Massachusetts definition too (950 CMR 70.04, "or the entrance onto a site with that intent"). So Minnesota sits on the activity axis with Wisconsin and Massachusetts, reaches land like Wisconsin (archaeological sites only), and bites at the point of entry like Massachusetts.

The limiting clause speaks to state property, as in Wisconsin. 138.40 subd. 1:

"sections 138.31 to 138.42 are not meant to burden persons who wish to use state property for recreational and other lawful purposes or to unnecessarily restrict the use of state property."

It says "state property", twice. It must not be quoted as reassurance about a city park.

Licences, 138.36 subd. 2: the director of the Minnesota Historical Society "may issue a license to a qualified person approved by the state archaeologist to engage in field archaeology on a specified state site." Unlike Wisconsin's 44.47(4)(a), 138.36 requires the approval of another state agency whose jurisdiction covers the site, and says nothing of the owning city.

Penalty, 138.41 subd. 1:

"Whoever willfully violates section 138.33, or willfully defaces, injures, destroys, displaces, or removes any object or data belonging to the state, or willfully interferes with evidence or work on any state site or other site for which a license has been issued, or willfully violates any other provision of sections 138.31 to 138.42, or the rules adopted by the commissioner is guilty of a gross misdemeanor."

What it does NOT prohibit: recreational metal detecting as such, and anything on municipal land that is not an archaeological site.

Directory entry should read: in Minnesota, only the state archaeologist and licensed individuals may engage in field archaeology – which includes going onto a site intending to survey, dig or remove objects – on an archaeological site owned by the state or by a county, township or city. It should NOT read that metal detecting is prohibited in Minnesota city parks.

3. Cities in Minnesota that publish a rule

2 cities in Minnesota publish a rule we can quote, out of 100 checked.

Of the 100 checked, 66 had pages on the city’s own site that we found and read. For the other 34 we could not locate a municipal source, so nothing is claimed about them either way.

4. County rules

County rules exist in Minnesota, and they govern county land only. 7 county rules surfaced while checking cities in this state. Each was read and then set aside, because a county park rule does not answer whether a city park allows detecting, and it is not the state rule either. They are listed because their existence is the useful fact: if you are in a county park, a separate rule probably applies to you.

0 of these 7 name their county in the text that was read; the rest name only “county park” or “county parks”, so the source is given instead of a county name. A county is never inferred from a web address.

5. Cities checked - no published rule

98 cities in Minnesota were checked and have no published rule on this page. Of those, 91 returned no rule, and 7 did return something that has not been published – mostly rules that turned out to govern county land, which are in the county section above. A city here is not a city where detecting is allowed. It is a city whose own published material did not answer the question.

All 98 were checked on 13 September 2026, in one sweep, so that date applies to every row.

6. Land this page does not cover

This page answers for Minnesota state land, and for city and county land where the state rule reaches it. Several other kinds of ground are not covered here, and naming them is more honest than letting a reader assume the page is complete.

Tribal land. This directory does not cover it, and will not.

There are 574 federally recognised tribal nations. Each is a sovereign jurisdiction with its own law, its own permitting, its own enforcement and its own cultural-resource provisions, and none of them is answered by a state's code or by any federal rule quoted on these pages. A one-line instruction to "get tribal permission" would be worse than this paragraph, because it implies one process and one authority where there are 574. If you are on or near tribal land, the governing law is that nation's, and the place to ask is that nation's own offices. Nothing on this page applies there.

BLM land is covered, partly, in its own place. The Bureau of Land Management holds about 245 million acres and the federal rule names metal detectors and permits them, which is the opposite of the national park rule. See BLM land: the detector is named, and permitted. That page covers the base regulation; it does not yet cover the supplementary rules individual BLM State Directors issue for particular field offices.

Named and not examined. These are recorded so their absence is visible rather than silent. No claim is made about any of them:

• Military withdrawn land, including ranges and training areas.
• Bureau of Reclamation land, which surrounds a great many reservoirs.
• Water district and irrigation district land.
• Wilderness, Wilderness Study Areas and National Conservation Areas, which carry designations of their own. And one general point about signs. The commonest piece of reasoning in this subject is "there was no sign, so it was allowed." Arizona's State Land Department answers it in writing, in condition 2 of its own Recreational Permit terms:

"You will comply with all laws, rules, regulations and ordinances. Posting is not required for these provisions to be enforceable."

That is Arizona's sentence about Arizona's provisions and this directory does not present it as the law of any other state. But the proposition it states is the one to carry: nothing read for this project makes a published rule's enforceability depend on a sign at the boundary. Where posting does matter, a specific provision says so, and that provision is quoted on the page where it occurs.