Is it legal to metal detect along the potomac river or c&o canal??

[missmetaldetectingdiva]

Is it legal to metal detect along the potomac river or c&o canal??

I live in near Falling Waters, WV and Williamsport,Md where the Potomac River and the C&O canal path is. Is it legal to metal detect along the river? I have googled the question and came up with nothing. Also along the potomac river is the canal path.

Please dont stone me as this is my first post.. I have been a lurker...

 

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[Swartzie]

Re: Is it legal to metal detect along the potomac river or c&o canal??

Look up your county's GIS website (GIS = geographical information system). It will basically have a tax map where you can see who the property owners are. If you're lucky you can see the maps online otherwise you may need to download some cad software to view the maps. Hopefully you can find your county's GIS website. Not every county is going to have them. Just go to google and type in your county's name with the letters gis. If you see some property that is owned by the town, state, or government then it may be public land. Where I live there is a lot of public land used for public hunting. Most the public land is behind dam systems.

I would think there would be some parks and fishing spots along the river and canal. These should be public.

-Swartzie

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Re: Is it legal to metal detect along the potomac river or c&o canal??

swartzie gave good advice for finding out whos domain the land is (ie.: public or private). And I would add that once you find out it's public (as it probably is, since it borders the navigable canals?), and so long as it's not historical monument type protected sites (ie.: national parks, etc...) then yes, go ahead and hunt. If you've looked for, and found no prohibitions, then you've done your homework. Go knock 'em dead

 

[Diggincoinz]

Re: Is it legal to metal detect along the potomac river or c&o canal??

Hi, I just viewed a bing mapping of that area, if you're staying on the West side then you'll probably have better luck. But the East & North sides are almost completely National Historic Park Land - a definate no-no. Particulary battlefields.

Just make sure you've researched it well and if you don't get written permission then at least get a name and phone number of the person and or office that gives you permission to metal detect. Good luck!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Re: Is it legal to metal detect along the potomac river or c&o canal??

diggin-coinz: or, rather than thinking she needs permission, she need only confirm that there are no prohibitions. And .... heck, that can be done without even talking to anyone. Simply look up the rules herself (usually available for all levels of govt, parks, land, etc... on-line nowadays), and if it is silent on the issue (ie.: not prohibited), then no "permission" would be needed. No-more-so than thinking you need permission to skip stones on the pond, etc.....