Metal Detecting in Pennsylvania

1. The rule, in full

Pennsylvania – 17 Pa. Code 11.209(a) and the DCNR detecting policy

Read from the Pennsylvania Code (pacodeandbulletin.gov, "changes effective through 56 Pa.B. 4026 (July 4, 2026)"), chapter 11, every live section. DCNR policy read from pa.gov. Title 37 read from the consolidated statutes PDF on palegis.us. Checked 21 Sep 2026.

There is no metal detecting provision in Pennsylvania's state park regulations. None of 11.201 to 11.224 mentions a metal detector. The provisions that govern:

Operative text, 11.209(a):

"The following activities are prohibited without written permission of the Department: (1) Engaging in construction or excavation. … (8) Removing or disturbing an historical or archeological artifact, relic or object."

Scope, 11.202(a): "This chapter applies to State parks." 11.201 defines "State park" as "An area under the jurisdiction of the Department acquired or administered as a park" under the Conservation and Natural Resources Act.

Determination: DCNR state parks only. Does NOT reach municipal parks.

The detecting rule is DCNR policy. The Department publishes:

"The reasonable use of metal detectors is permitted in many state parks. However, metal detecting is not permitted where this activity would conflict with a facility in use, nor is it permitted within fenced areas of swimming pool complexes."

"Individuals who want to use a metal detector in a state park must receive prior approval from the specific park manager on-site at the park and report items which are found and will be removed from the park."

"Shovels, spades, garden trowels, and other similar tools may not be used to dig into or turn over ground areas that are covered by turf, vegetation, shrubs, or trees. The only permissible digging tools are screwdrivers, ice picks, and other similar narrow pronged devices."

Beaches and lake swimming areas are open "from the Tuesday after Labor Day until the Saturday prior to Memorial Day, unless posted otherwise", and at the manager's discretion in summer. Hours are sunrise to sunset, there is no fee, and "State park areas with this potential may have part or all of their area closed to metal detecting."

As with Florida, the page quotes the policy as policy and the regulation as the regulation.

The statute does not reach municipal land. 37 Pa.C.S. 511 makes it a third-degree misdemeanor to conduct "a field investigation on any land or submerged land owned or controlled by the Commonwealth" without a permit, or to appropriate or alter "any archaeological site or specimen located upon lands owned or controlled by the Commonwealth". Title 37's definitions do not define "Commonwealth" to include political subdivisions, and 506(a) reserves only "archaeological resources owned or controlled by it". On city land the History Code imposes a duty to cooperate on the city (507) and nothing on the detectorist.

Sources: pacodeandbulletin.gov 17 Pa. Code 11.201-11.224; pa.gov DCNR State Parks metal detecting page; palegis.us Title 37 chapters 1 and 5 (PDF). Checked 21 Sep 2026.

What was read for the land-class sweep, and what was not. Read: the full section list of 17 Pa. Code chapter 21 and sections 21.102 and 21.122 in text. Not read: the remaining sections of chapter 21. The finding above therefore covers what was read and nothing beyond it – see sweep/README.md, "A KNOWN LIMIT OF THIS SWEEP", on why a chapter set aside on its title is an unread chapter.

2. Cities in Pennsylvania that publish a rule

2 cities in Pennsylvania publish a rule we can quote, out of 70 checked.

Of the 70 checked, 32 had pages on the city’s own site that we found and read. For the other 38 we could not locate a municipal source, so nothing is claimed about them either way.

3. County rules

County rules exist in Pennsylvania, and they govern county land only. 6 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 6 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.

4. Cities checked - no published rule

68 cities in Pennsylvania were checked and have no published rule on this page. Of those, 62 returned no rule, and 6 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 68 were checked on 13 September 2026, in one sweep, so that date applies to every row. 2 have no municipal site recorded and are shown without a link rather than dropped, because dropping them would understate what was checked.

5. Land this page does not cover

This page answers for Pennsylvania 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.