Kenny Kustenmacher (president of the Pelican Relic & Recovery Association) & I made public comments to the New Orleans City Park board (8/26/25) about the metal detecting ban that was implemented in April. 

Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser couldn’t attend the meeting but followed through on his pledge to send a representative if he couldn’t attend. Julio Guichard, Senior Advisor for the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, attended the meeting. Guichard didn’t speak to the board but spoke to Kenny & me after the meeting. He said he’d report back to Nungesser about today’s meeting.

Following the meeting we also spoke to the board chair Paul Sterbcow for a few minutes. He thanked us for our input & said he was not aware detecting was banned in the park. He said, “You’re on our agenda now and we're going to discuss it." So, this issue is not over, and we left the meeting with some positives and made more people aware of what happened to the metal detecting communities with the detecting ban in City Park.

We will keep in touch with the board chair and the Lt. Governor as this issue evolves. In the meantime, please encourage others to support us by signing the petition to restore metal detecting in New Orleans City Park. We’ll let you know when anything else develops with this issue.