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Ok I have a dilemma. I found my G G G Grandfather's homestead site. The problem is it's on state land. This is land the state took from my family to put in a highway interchange and never put in the interchange. The signs just say no weapons. What should I do?
There is the common misconception md'ing forums, that md'ing on state lands is a no-go. This is wrong on several levels. For starters, in any of the given 50 states, there is multiple levels and layers of "state land", to begin with. For example, there are state PARKS. And then perhaps there is state road right-of-ways (the land that borders the edges of the roads, that can extend out quite far, in all directions....). And then perhaps there is state land that has not yet been made into parks yet. In other words, not all state land is parks. There could be state buildings on them for various bureaucracies (departments of motor vehicles places, for instance), etc.. And the reason so many md'rs assume to "avoid state land", is because of the noble efforts, decades ago, to create state-by-state's listings, of their laws, concerning their state parks. The idea being, decades ago when such lists started circulating, was so that if you were a traveller (let's say), going state-to-state in your RV, perhaps you'd wonder if you could whip out your detector at the state parks wherever you travelled to. Seems reasonable enough, eh? So how did those persons compile their lists? They asked! Like this is the way R.W. doc Grim got his material, for his book, afterall. He simply xeroxed off 50 form letters, sent them to every state's state capitol's head parks' dept office (over-seeing their state parks within those states). The letter would ask
"what are the rules or laws concerning the use of metal detectors in your state parks?". Then Doc Grim would simply compile the answers he received back, in alphabetic order, in his book, for readers to have as easy go-to info.
Sounds reasonable enough, eh? I mean, .... who better to ask, than the states themselves, RIGHT? But a curious thing happened when his, and other such studies/lists were done. Some of the more dire sounding states (or with outright "no's"), had simply been detected up till then (at their state parks, beaches, campgrounds, etc...) and it had never been a problem. Ie.: no one had ever cared (unless, I suppose, if you were being a nuisance around obvious historic monuments or whatever). Now all of the sudden there's this book or list telling them they can't be doing it? You see what happened? Whomever, in state capitol, that is fielding such a question, simply gives the easy answer. Or morphs things they think applies to the "pressing question". Like cultural heritage verbage, or lost & found laws, or disturbing the vegetation stuff, etc... Because, let's face it, there is probably in any given state's parks, perhaps some that ....... sure ...... are historically themed, and no one wants yahoos "digging it up", etc... And even though perhaps at the other 99%, no one had ever cared, nor will ever care, yet ......... the person answering the letter can't go into such detail as "yes over here, but no over there, blah blah blah". So what was the easy answer? It was either "no", or "inquire everywhere you come to", etc..... It was a clear case of "no one cared, till you asked" type routine, and continues to this day.
For example, a reading of the FMDAC's list might make you think CA is very restrictive. Yet I can tell you for a fact, that our state-of-CA beaches (which are administered by the very same dept. that over-sees their land parks as well) are detected all the time, and you'll never have a problem. But .... sure ....... if I went to Sacramento and asked enough archies "
can I?", I suppose I'd eventually find one to say "no". Moral of the story? Leave good enough alone and don't ask silly questions.
But back to your particular question, it doesn't even appear that your spot in question, is even on state park land anyhow. Ie.: maybe "state owned", but not state PARK. So if it were me, I'd just do it. Afterall, you're just looking for that ring your great great grandfather lost there, that you read about in the diaries passed down to you, right? I mean, sheesk, how visible is the place? Is anyone really around to care, to begin with?
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