Metal Detecting Guidelines & Acknowledgement

Approved by Board of Commissioners on May 8, 2017

NOTE: Form must be completed & signed by applicant prior to permit being issued.

Related MetroParks Rules and Regulations:

17.1    No person shall in any way injure, deface, destroy, disturb, or remove any part of a Park District owned building, sign, equipment or other structure or property, or any tree, flower, shrub, plant or other vegetation, or rock, earth or mineral located therein.

  • (A)  The use of metal detectors on Park property is prohibited without the express written permission of the Executive Director or his/her designee. Guidelines for permitted use may be developed at the sole discretion of the Executive Director or his/her designee. All permitted users must adhere to the permit guidelines and are subject to having their permit revoked and future permit requests denied if it is determined that they violated the guidelines. Permits are only good for the calendar year; January 1 to December 31 in which they are issued.
  • (B) Any artifact/item of archaeological or historical significance or one that exhibits personal identification information that is discovered on park property must be turned in to the Administrative office with the name of the person who discovered it and the location in which it was discovered within 24 hours of being discovered.
  • (C)  Any item located on park property not of archaeological or historical significance, and without any exhibited personal identification information may be kept by the person discovering the item, unless the item had been previously identified to the MetroParks as being lost by the original owner.

Metal Detecting Guidelines:

  1. Metal Detectorists must acquire a special use permit from the Executive Director or his/her designee and must carry the permit and personal identification along with them while conducting the activity.
  2. Metal Detectorists must adhere to all existing park rules and regulations.
  3. Metal Detectorists must not disturb or interfere with any other park user and/or user related activity.
  4. Metal Detecting may only occur during normal open park hours.
  5. Metal Detectorists must wear headphones while detecting so as to eliminate any sound emitting from the metal detecting devices from being heard by other users.
  6. Recovery of items must be done so as to cause minimal disturbance to the area of discovery. All disturbed areas must be restored back to their original condition immediately upon completion of recovery.
  7. Recovery tools must adhere to a maximum trowel width and length of 6”, exclusive of the handle, extension and/or foot support.
  8. Metal Detectorists must properly dispose of all litter or trash discovered as a result of the detecting activity.
  9. Metal Detecting is not permitted in the following areas:
  10. Fellows Riverside Gardens
  11. Mill Creek Golf Courses (including Wick Recreation Area Par 3)
  12. Any Preserve or Sanctuary Property
  13. Volney Rogers Statue Area
  14. Recreational Fields with the following exceptions:
  • i. Surface Finding Only is permitted within the field of play limits during the respective sports fields season(s).
  • ii. Detecting and recovery is only permitted within recreational fields of play (excluding infields) during the respective sports field “off” season.
  • iii. Detecting and recovery is permitted in recreational common areas. Common areas are defined as are those public areas that are outside the field of play limits.
  • iv. Detecting is not permitted within the infield limits of baseball/softball fields at any time.

Applicant Acknowledgement:

By signing below, I hereby acknowledge that I have read and agree to abide by the rules and regulations of Mill Creek MetroParks and the metal detecting guidelines as noted above.

*Attention: This form does not recognize the auto fill feature. To successfully submit this form, all required fields must be filled out.

Metal Detecting Permit Request
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