Anyone ever detect in Victoria, British Columbia Canada?

[rayray3]

Ill be in Victoria tommorrow for two free days!! I have the detector but not sure of the laws or where to even start. I heard there is a beach about 45 minutes away from the city.
Ill even dig some holes inland if i had a decent place and permission.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
rayray

 

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[rayray3]

I did see some nice beaches and they are in national parks. I can't find any rules about detecting there. It does say i cant remove any natural or historical....


This is what i found for their parks.....

Park Rules and Regulations
Information provided courtesy of Parks Canada

National parks protect and preserve areas of natural beauty and significance; but only if we manage our impact. This takes special legislation passed by the Canadian parliament, known as the National Parks Act. In part, the Act states that national parks have been established:

"To protect for all time those places which are significant examples of Canada's natural and cultural heritage, and also to encourage public understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of this heritage in ways which leave it unimpaired for future generations."

The Act covers everything you can think of and more. Here are a few examples:


It is unlawful to collect or remove any natural objects or historical artifacts (this includes berries, wildflowers, mushrooms, antlers, wood, interesting rocks along the river, etc.).


It is unlawful to feed, entice or harass wildlife (this includes feeding them 'natural' food, it also includes what may look like tame wildlife such as birds or squirrels).


Pets must be leashed at all times. For their protection, never leave your pet unattended. Bears, coyotes, and even elk and deer may present a danger to your pet.


All food (even food in coolers) must be stored inside vehicle trunks or in tear-proof containers.


You may camp only in designated areas.

 

[Saturna]

In the late '70's and 80's I detected alot in Victoria, back when it was a nice city to live in, before it had "big city" problems and became a "little Vancouver" , but I digress.

The best park for old coins that we found was Central Park, beside the Crystal swimming pool. The center of the park between the old trees and the tennis court was the hot spot. Best coins were a 1901 half dollar and a 1935 silver dollar(found by a friend borrowing my detector )

Oak Bay is a possible, but we never tried in there. Oak Bay beach never really yielded that much, despite it's popularity. Maybe things would be better today. We didn't have $1 and $2 coins then.

Beacon Hill park is an old park, but so huge that people spread out so much, and we never found a really good area for coins. The exception are the waterfront points (not Clover Point) looking over to Washington state. We found some circa 1890's US coins there.

There are other early parks, that may be worth checking. Just look on a map and any park within a mile or so of the city center was also there a hundred years ago or more.


Jay

 

[seinohio]

Detected in Vitoria on Thanksgiving 2007 at many of their parks and at some beaches. My cousin's husband is a native of Vitoria and knew where to go. Very little luck, but Canadian pennies seem to be more plentiful than US zincs here in the States. Had a good time though, and enjoyed the people and beautiful scenery. Don't know the MD laws, but had not trouble with anyone and my friend knew of no MD restrictions.

 

[Treasure Tom]

Rayray, almost guaranteed that you will NOT be allowed to detect in National parks & historic sites. Provincial parks seem fine if you are detecting on sand beaches, make sure you ask the park employees first. Regional parks for some reason do not like people detecting, especially on the Mainland. Safer to ask first before taking out your detector. Have fun!

Tom

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Treasure Tom, why should he "ask first"? He already looked it up. It said "cant remove any natural or historical artifacts". What more is there to ask about? I don't consider 1800s coins "historic artifacts", do you? Heck, when you go to England, that's the NEW stuff they throw back. I mean, was someone going to be standing over him checking the dates? If so, he promises to turn in all pre 1200 AD coins!

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Hi All,

I agree with Tom in CA. I doubt anyone is going to object to detecting on a sand beach in most public areas. Have you seen the holes and excavations made by castle building children, and not filled in afterwards?

National/Provincial Parks can be different. Regardless of what the statutes say, some parks do have rules wrt their own turf and enforce it. For your own protection I would at least review their list of do's and don'ts. If you do enquire and the answer is no, I would also ask to see something in writing, rather than take an employee's word for it.

These questions are not always easy to assess. Here's an example. Some of our provincial parks are classified as "natural parks" which means don't chop, dig or do anything without express written authorization. Yet the interpretation and enforcement of such rules often seem to be at the discretion of on-site management.

On one such site where for years I had been water hunting while there camping with the fam, a new manager happened to be on the beach and informed me that no detecting was allowed. When asked why/when the rules had changed, he replied that Parks Ontario was concerned about the removal of native artifacts...namely "arrowheads". The park was named "Arrowhead Provincial Park" here in Ontario.

Rather than confront him, I said that was fine..I was just killing time anyway... and joined him on the beach briefly for some conversation. During the course of it, I informed him that detectors would not detect arrowheads made of rock, and also that the park was not named after any such rocks, but rather for an edible bulbous-rooted aquatic plant named "Arrowhead" ... so abundant within the Park's boundaries. By the end of the conversation he'd also learned that I had been employed by the district office years before when a student. As we were about to part, he casually told me to " ah...go ahead and detect away, just turn in any artifact that I might find to the park office."

The point is that most of us feel obliged to know the rules or the law regarding our activities, but oftentimes the very act of "asking" can result in loss of our right to detect based on nothing more than the personal viewpoint
of the staff member to whom our question is directed. Therefore, if I can't find anything regarding detecting in the rules/regulations, I go ahead and exercise my rights (rather than freely give them away for no good reason), but experience has also taught me to exercise some discretion in such areas wrt visibility/time of day...ie hunt the beach late in the day/early in the morning. IMHO.

Jim.

 

[Treasure Tom]

Hi Tom in CA!

"Ask first" was in regards to Provincial Park employees. I contacted a provincial park supervisor during the off season & offered to clean up the swimming beach. They were very pleased with the offer since it was the 1st time someone approached them. They allowed us to camp for free & I provided them with a detailed report of all the "junk" found...about 500+. They even asked if I was interested in cleaning up other parks. GOOD PUBLIC RELATIONS for the metal detecting community don't you think?

Tom

 

[Saturna]

Any parks within Victoria itself are city parks, not provincial or otherwise.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

TreasureTom, no doubt about it: volunteering goes a long way in "opening doors". I docent at several museums, solely because the good vibes tend to work wonders, down the line, in getting tips and "in's". But if I was just traveling, and wanted to hit a public park, if I saw nothing addressing the subject of detecting (ie.: silent on the issue), then I would just go. No need for further questions, IMHO. And if something were vague, like this "don't remove historic artifacts", but didn't elaborate on what was "historic", then I wouldn't consider casual coin-shooting, or rings on the beach "historic items". Of course, common sense tells us not dig around obvious historical monuments.

 

[Treasure Tom]

Hello Tom in CA!

Glad to hear you volunteer your time! You are right, doing something good often opens more doors for detecting. You are right about travelling & detecting, there is probably no need to go through the troubles of contacting a parks employee if detecting a public park, especially if it is a sand beach.

We both have common sense about detecting, however, not everyone does. There is a member of the metal detecting club in my area who admitted to jumping a fence at a historic site to go detecting. He was kicked out of the area by the employees. I also saw the holes he left behind on the beach & filled them in. We don't need people like him to give metal detecting a bad image.

Take care!

Tom