Explicitly allowed
An official source affirmatively states that metal detecting is permitted within the record’s defined scope, subject to any listed conditions. Absence of a located ban cannot produce this status.
Reading the answer
Five statuses, no guesswork
Every label describes both the proposed conclusion and the quality of the official evidence. Status color is never the only signal.
Permit required
An official source says advance permission, a permit, written authorization, or another approval is required before detecting in the stated scope.
Restricted
Official material permits or contemplates detecting only in designated areas, during certain times, with specified tools, or under other material limits.
Prohibited
An official source expressly forbids metal detecting in the stated scope. The conclusion must identify the authority and supporting evidence.
Unclear
The available official material is missing, incomplete, outdated, conflicting, or does not answer the question for the stated scope. Unclear is not permission.
Confidence is separate
Confidence describes how directly the source resolves the scoped question. It does not upgrade an unclear answer to allowed, replace human review, or predict what a land manager will say today.
Review state is separate
A status can be well-supported in a machine-researched draft and still remain pending human review. Until approval, its location page is noindex and excluded from the sitemap.