CO2
Jr. Member
- Sep 20, 2015
- 71
- 95
- Detector(s) used
- 12' corrugated plastic drainpipe, BGT Pro. 30
- Primary Interest:
- Other
It happened to me this summer: I was out trying to find legal a path to an unclaimed BLM placerground in the high country and much to my chagrin, the spot I wanted to dig was 20 acres of legal digging - but not without hopping posted private property barbed wire. There was absolutely no legal access to that legal BLM spot. Apparently this is a common situation 
Irritated, I scanned upstream and sure enough, several acres of creek were located nearby in section 16 of the same range/township - and the State of Colorado just so happens to own that section 16. I checked it out on the ground and physical access looked splendid. So later I went down the the local BLM office and asked if they knew what the state prospecting regulations were for that particular section. Well they pulled out a booklet of state lands and permitted uses for those lands but of course, my target section 16 was not listed. So the BLM office said they didn't know, but they told me something along the lines of that at one point in time, sections 16 and 36 from each range/township area were handed over to the state, and somewhere along the way the state was able to trade out some of their unwanted sections 16/36 they were given in exchange for other sections that the state desired from the Government. Nevertheless, if you look on the BLM mineral rights maps for the high country you will see that Colorado still owns many, many sections 16 and 36 in range/township areas throughout the state. But most aren't even labeled with a name. (No idea how they do it in other states.)
So what are the applicable Colorado state regulations in these unlabeled sections 16 and 36? Is prospecting permitted within them by default unless specifically prohibited for those particular sections? How do I find out if I can prospect in any given state-owned section 16 or 36? Most of them aren't labeled. Thanks.
Irritated, I scanned upstream and sure enough, several acres of creek were located nearby in section 16 of the same range/township - and the State of Colorado just so happens to own that section 16. I checked it out on the ground and physical access looked splendid. So later I went down the the local BLM office and asked if they knew what the state prospecting regulations were for that particular section. Well they pulled out a booklet of state lands and permitted uses for those lands but of course, my target section 16 was not listed. So the BLM office said they didn't know, but they told me something along the lines of that at one point in time, sections 16 and 36 from each range/township area were handed over to the state, and somewhere along the way the state was able to trade out some of their unwanted sections 16/36 they were given in exchange for other sections that the state desired from the Government. Nevertheless, if you look on the BLM mineral rights maps for the high country you will see that Colorado still owns many, many sections 16 and 36 in range/township areas throughout the state. But most aren't even labeled with a name. (No idea how they do it in other states.)
So what are the applicable Colorado state regulations in these unlabeled sections 16 and 36? Is prospecting permitted within them by default unless specifically prohibited for those particular sections? How do I find out if I can prospect in any given state-owned section 16 or 36? Most of them aren't labeled. Thanks.
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