Wyoming Administrative Code › Agency 060 - Lands and Investments, Office of › Sub-Agency 0002 - Land Commissioners, Board of › Chapter 11 - STATE LANDS EXCLUSIVE COMMERCIAL AND NON-EXCLUSIVE SCIENTIFIC FOSSIL PERMITS › Section 11-6 - Ownership and Sale of Specimens Recovered Under Permit

Current through July 13, 2024
(a) For the purposes of an Exclusive
				Commercial Fossil Removal Permit, specimens of the following fish genera are
				deemed common and approved for sale without review or royalty by the Office or
				its agent: Knightia, Diplomystus, Priscacara, Phareodus, Mioplosus, Notogoneus
				and Amphiplaga. Additionally, common specimens of gastropods, bivalves,
				coprolites and plant fossils, as illustrated in the Geological Survey of
				Wyoming's Bulletin 63 (1984 Edition) are approved for sale without review or
				royalty. Specimens of gars, rays, bowfins and paddlefish are approved for sale
				without review, however, these specimens are subject to Section
				7 - Commercial Fossil Permit
				Royalties.
(b) All specimens not
				specifically listed in this Section above, are deemed rare and unusual and must
				be reported to the Office within thirty (30) days of discovery. Such specimens
				may be sold only upon approval of the Office and only after consultation with
				the Wyoming Geological Survey pursuant to establishing the rarity or scarcity
				of the specimens. If approved for sale, such specimens bear the royalty set out
				in Section
				7 of these rules. Any specimens not
				approved for sale are the property of the State of Wyoming, and must be turned
				over to the State as directed by the Office. Such specimens shall be delivered
				on site to the Office or its agent or to the Wyoming Geological Survey, at the
				option of the Board. Such specimens shall be receipted by the State's
				representative when turned over by the permittee. Upon termination of any
				Commercial Fossil Permit, any and all rare and unusual specimens in a
				permittee's possession either on site or at any other location used by a
				permittee or permittee's agents for preparation or sale shall be acknowledged
				and turned over to the Office within thirty (30) days of permit
				termination.
(c) No fossil
				collected under a Non-Exclusive Scientific Fossil Removal Permit may be removed
				from the State without the written consent of the Board. Such consent may be
				requested by a permit applicant/permittee at the time of permit application. As
				a condition of approval for the removal of paleontological specimens collected
				under such a permit, permittees must acknowledge, in writing, that such
				specimens shall forever remain the property, and under the ownership, of the
				State of Wyoming; and, that such specimens shall be treated as on loan to the
				permittee, and providing in writing, the permittee's waiver and the waiver of
				the institution or association represented by the permittee, of any form of
				lien against the ownership and possession rights of the State of Wyoming, its
				Board of Land Commissioners, and the Office of State Lands and Investments
				unless at the discretion of the Board, such specimen(s) are traded to the
				permittee and relinquished by the Board, in writing, in exchange for specimens
				of equal value. Relinquishment of specimens on loan, and exchange for equal
				value specimens, will be acted upon based upon the written request of either
				the permittee or the Wyoming Geological Survey.
(d) All commercial and scientific fossil
				inventories recovered from State fossil permit areas, must be maintained
				separately from other inventories permittees maintain, or individually tagged
				or marked by Wyoming permit number.