Start here
Free treasure: Michigan's foraging and collecting rules, explained
Morels, Petoskey stones, berries, beach glass, firewood — what you may legally take home from Michigan's public land, in four porch-sign rules.
Read the orientation →Foraging & Collecting
Free treasure, in plain English.
Morels and thimbleberries, Petoskey stones and Yooperlites, beach glass and firewood — Michigan is unusually generous about letting you keep what you find. The rules fit on a porch sign: take the fruit, leave the plant, weigh your bucket, and never pocket history.
Every May
Morel hunting in Michigan: rules, maps, and manners
May is morel month. The rules (personal use, no selling public-land finds), the DNR's burn-area map, the false-morel safety check, and the sacred secrecy of spots.
The state maps your best spots →The guides
Stones & beach treasure
Petoskey stones and beach treasure: the collector's rules
The 25-pound rule, the 93-pound legend, and the field guide to Michigan's beach treasures — Petoskeys, Charlevoix stones, glowing Yooperlites, agates, copper, and Leland Blue.
Read the guide →Berries, nuts & edibles
Wild edibles beyond morels: berries, nuts, and the leave-the-plant rule
Thimbleberries, black walnuts, chanterelles — what you may gather on Michigan's public land, why ramps and fiddleheads aren't on the list, and the one plant with its own police.
Read the guide →Detecting & gold panning
Metal detecting, gold panning, and the artifact line
Where detecting is welcome in state parks, the show-your-finds rule, Michigan's modest-but-real gold, and the line that never moves: artifacts and shipwrecks stay.
Read the guide →Firewood & maple
Firewood, maple, and taking from the forest
Dead-and-down firewood from mapped state forest with an inexpensive permit, the sugaring tradition (private land only), and the kindly stated never-list.
Read the guide →What changed this year
What changed in Michigan foraging and collecting for 2026
The most stable rules on the site — the annual beats are the fuelwood maps, MDARD's spring mushroom-sale reminder, and a calendar that runs on seasons, not statutes.
Read the guide →The signpost
Michigan Porch explains; the DNR decides. Foraging rules and the morel burn-area map at Michigan.gov/Foraging, mushroom-sale rules at MDARD, and metal-detecting maps on each park's page. See also Camping, Wildlife, Fishing, Hunting, ORV & Trails, and Boating.