National Monuments & Rockhounds
Question: May I collect specimens inside National Monuments?
Answer: No. Rockhounding inside National Monuments (e.g., Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument; John Day Fossil Beds; Hagerman Horse Fossil Beds; Agate Fossil Beds; Florissant Fossil Beds) is prohibited.
Again, this seems so basic that it doesn't need to be said. Nonetheless, in 2011, a Washington State resident was fined and banned from national parks for a year for digging up a fossil skull in 2007 from the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in eastern Oregon.
The fossil oredont skull that a Washington State resident removed from John Day Fossil Beds
Sign at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument