CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Looking for a new way to take a look at the outside in West Virginia and even consider a piece of it property? Rockhounding could turn into your latest hobby.
The time period “rockhounding” refers to browsing for and gathering rocks, fossils or minerals, usually in an novice capacity.
There are some places in West Virginia in which you can pay back for gemstone mining activities, like at Seneca Caverns and Smoke Gap Caverns, but for additional mother nature-centered exercise, some community lands enable rock amassing for free without having a allow.
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In which to glance
The Monongahela Nationwide Forest and the Cheat and Monongahela river valleys are regarded some of the ideal locations for obtaining minerals and crystals in West Virginia. The locations about Seneca and Smoke Gap Caverns are some of the most effective destinations for much more showy crystals like geodes.
Rockhounding is legal without the need of a allow in the the greater part of the Monongahela Countrywide Forest as prolonged as you adhere to U.S. Forest Company tips. No allow is needed as extended as:
- You gather in smaller, confined quantities (significantly less than 10 lbs)
- It is for non-commercial use
- Samples are only collected from the surface with out digging applications of any sort
- You do not take any vertebrate fossils or shark teeth
- You do not get artifacts of human life, together with pottery or arrowheads
Nevertheless, even in the Mon Forest, there are sites in which rockhounding is off-limits. Locations with wilderness designations, of which there are 7 in the Mon Forest, have more protections that make rock amassing illegal.
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It is also unlawful to take out rocks from West Virginia Wildlife Management Locations, of which there are 95 managed by the West Virginia Division of Normal Assets.
Commonly, national parks like the New River Gorge Nationwide Park & Protect do not let rockhounding both.
If you are not guaranteed if an place of community land is open to accumulating without the need of a permit, it can be very best to contact administration for the spot, no matter whether that is the state, Forest Services or Nationwide Parks Provider.
The close by George Washington Countrywide Forest enables for rockhounding but a allow that expenses $25 is essential.
Retain in intellect that accumulating on any non-public land is not permitted with no authorization. For a lot more details about standard rockhounding etiquette, simply click here.
What to appear for
Quartz is in all probability the most typical and easy-to-obtain crystal in West Virginia. Quartz can be located in multiple areas in the point out in a assortment of unique hues. Depending on where by you are searching, you may perhaps also find celestite, calcite or dolomite crystals or iron minerals like pyrite—commonly recognized as fools gold—and siderite.
In some places of Southern West Virginia along the Greenbrier and Kanawha river valleys, fossils like petrified wooden and coral have been identified. Photographs of standout fossils that have been identified in West Virginia, including dinosaur bones and tracks, can be viewed on the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) web site.
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Cherished gems are not usually located in West Virginia, despite the fact that there have been some outlying instances. In actuality, 1 of the major diamonds in The us at far more than 34 karats was located in West Virginia in 1928. On the other hand, no other diamonds have been located in the Mountain Point out.
Opals have also been located on the underside of sandstone overhands and cliffs around Coopers Rock Condition Forest in Monongalia County, in accordance to the USGS. Semiprecious Carnelian has also been located in areas of Summers County.