Bigfoot Laws and Sanctuaries: Where Sasquatch Is Officially Protected

It sounds like a joke, but it isn't. There are real places in the United States where official government bodies have voted to protect Bigfoot. Some of these measures came with real penalties on paper. Others are proud, playful declarations meant to honor local legends and welcome visitors. Together, they make a fascinating map of where communities have decided that, just in case, Sasquatch deserves a safe home.

Here's a guide to the best-known Bigfoot laws, resolutions and sanctuaries, what each one actually says, and what it means for you as a visitor. Each entry links to its source.

Quick note: this is a history and travel guide, not legal advice. Local rules can change, so check with the county or city if you have questions.

Washington has more Bigfoot protections than anywhere else in the country. That makes sense in the state that gave the world Ape Canyon and countless Cascade sightings. Read our full Bigfoot in Washington State guide for the reports.

The most famous Bigfoot law in the world was passed by the Skamania County Board of County Commissioners at its meeting on April 1, 1969. Yes, April Fool's Day, but the ordinance was real.

According to Wikipedia's article on Skamania County, Ordinance 69-01 forbids the killing of any "nocturnal primate mammal variously described as an ape-like creature or a sub-species of Homo sapiens," generally known as a Sasquatch, Bigfoot or "Giant Hairy ape." The maximum penalty was a $10,000 fine and five years in prison.

Why would a county do this? The ordinance itself gave a practical reason. It worried about "an influx of scientific investigators as well as casual hunters, many armed with lethal weapons," who had been drawn to the area by reported sightings. In other words, the county was protecting people as much as any creature.

In 1984, the ordinance was amended. Wikipedia's Bigfoot article says the crime became a misdemeanor and the entire county was declared a "Sasquatch refuge." The Skamania County article notes that the ordinance has not been repealed.

Skamania County is a fitting place for it. About 80 percent of the county is part of Gifford Pinchot National Forest, and it's home to Mount St. Helens.

In the far northwest corner of the state, Whatcom County followed Skamania's lead in 1991, declaring the county a "Sasquatch Protection and Refuge Area," according to Wikipedia's Bigfoot article.

This is the best Bigfoot law story in America.

In March 2022, Andrea Andrews's fifth-grade class at Lincoln Elementary School in Hoquiam, Washington, was practicing persuasive writing. The students researched Bigfoot, debated whether it was real, and wrote to the Grays Harbor County Board of Commissioners on March 16 asking for protections. The Daily World reported that the class started out about 60 percent believers and 40 percent skeptics.

To the students' surprise, the commissioners agreed. In April 2022, the county passed a resolution designating Grays Harbor a "Sasquatch protection and refuge area." According to The Daily World, the resolution says that if Sasquatch exists, it is not flourishing and is likely an endangered species that needs protection from extinction. It added no legal penalties. Instead, it asks residents to recognize and honor the area as a refuge.

"I told them 'You just changed the world in a little way. You got something on the books,'" Andrews told the paper. One student summed it up perfectly: "We're just 11- and 10-year-olds that basically made a law and convinced the County Commissioners."

Andrews turned the project into a yearly lesson called "Saving Sasquatch," and the next classes kept going. The Daily World reported in May 2024 that the 2023 class won protections in Clallam County. Then, in April 2024, Mason County became the third county in three years to adopt a "Sasquatch protection and refuge area" after hearing from Andrews's students.

The 2024 class even got advice from Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum of Idaho State University, who presented to them virtually. Not every student was convinced. The class split about two-thirds in favor, and one group of skeptics wrote to their classmates, "There is no proof that there is actually a Bigfoot out there." That kind of honest debate is exactly what the lesson was designed for.

According to The Daily World, the refuge now covers most of the Olympic Peninsula, with only Jefferson County left. Mason County commissioners also forwarded the class letter to the state Legislature.

The Daily World reports that a 2018 bill in the Washington State Legislature proposed making Sasquatch the official state cryptid, but it never passed. For now, Bigfoot protection in Washington is a county-by-county affair.

On October 21, 2014, the Norton City Council in Southwest Virginia adopted a "Resolution Declaring a Sasquatch/Bigfoot Sanctuary." We read the original document on the city's website. It notes that Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot filmed in the area in 2011, and it reasons that "if the creature is, as it appears to be, an endangered species," it deserves protection.

The resolution declares the City of Norton "a Sasquatch/Bigfoot/Woodbooger sanctuary." It also "welcomes all those who seek to find and photograph the creature without causing injury to it or damaging the habitat in which it may reside."

Today, the sanctuary is centered on the Flag Rock Recreation Area, which has a giant Woodbooger statue. The full story is in our Woodbooger guide.

In August 2024, Mayor Grant Nicely of Derry Borough, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, issued a proclamation naming Bigfoot the borough's official cryptid. According to CBS Pittsburgh, the proclamation made Derry a sanctuary where "any willful harm or capture of the species will be punishable by law."

"By proclaiming Bigfoot as our official cryptid and establishing Derry as a sanctuary, we are embracing our local folklore and the rich history that makes our community unique," said Council Vice-President Nathan Bundy.

The borough said it wanted to highlight the Chestnut Ridge area's long history of strange stories, from Iroquois stories of "stone giants" to Bigfoot sightings reported in the 1970s. The proclamation also named Derry "The Gateway to the Mysterious Chestnut Ridge."

Not every Bigfoot bill is about protection. According to Wikipedia, in 2021 Oklahoma State Representative Justin Humphrey proposed an official Bigfoot hunting season to boost tourism. The state would offer a $3 million bounty for a Bigfoot captured alive and unharmed. It was a tourism pitch and never became law, but it made headlines around the world. Read more in our Bigfoot in Oklahoma guide.

Some places honor Bigfoot without a law at all. Wikipedia notes that Jefferson, Texas, proclaimed itself the "Bigfoot Capital of Texas" in 2018 and has hosted the Texas Bigfoot Conference since 2000. Our Bigfoot in Texas guide has more.

If you visit one of these places, you're welcome to look for Bigfoot. Just be the kind of visitor these laws imagine. Norton's resolution says it best: welcome to "find and photograph the creature without causing injury to it or damaging the habitat in which it may reside."

Whether Bigfoot is out there or not, these laws say something nice about the communities that passed them. They took a mystery seriously enough to protect it, and they had a lot of fun doing it.

This article is for entertainment and general information only and isn't legal advice. Details come from the sources listed with this post as of October 2026.