2009 Mushroom Festival at Mt. Pisgah
The Mushroom Festival, co-sponsored by the Cascade Mycological Society, is held on Sunday October 25th 2008 from 10am to 5pm, and features a broad range of fungi collected throughout western Oregon. Experts are on hand during the show to help with mushroom identification. The Mushroom Festival also includes hayrides, cider pressing demonstrations, wine tasting, and a scarecrow contest.
Suggested donation:
$5/person or $10/family. MPA members free!
Visit the Mt. Pisgah Arboretum website for more details.
Mushroom Species Lists 2009
We have updated species lists for the Mt. Pisgah Mushroom Show, Hendricks Park and the Common Mushroom Check List:
Thanks to Bruce for providing this excellent resource! The lists now contain data for 25 years at the Mt. Pisgah.
American Academy of Microbiology colloquium report on Fungi
The American Academy of Microbiology has released its newest colloquium report, “The Fungal Kingdom: Diverse and Essential Roles in Earth’s Ecosystem.”
The report is the product of a colloquium convened by the Academy in November 2007, where experts in mycology, medicine, plant pathogens, and ecology discussed the current state of research in mycology and compiled a list of specific recommendations for future work. This report explores the roles fungi play in the world around us. Fungi can cause a number of life-threatening diseases, but they also are becoming increasingly useful to science and manufacturing every year. Research is critically needed in this field to bring about a better understanding of this kingdom.
You may access the report in its entirety at American Academy of Microbiology.
March 13th, 2008 7:00pm - General Meeting
The March meeting of the Cascade Mycological Society features Daniel Winkler. Daniel cover a topic related to his mycological explorations of Tibet.
The meeting will take place at Lane Community College Building 16, room 115 at 7:00pm (Directions).
For more information, please contact Kyle at 463-5260 or send email to hammonk@lanecc.edu
Mushrooms in Tibet - Daniel Winkler – MushRoaming.com
Tibet is famous for its absolutely stunning landscapes and its fascinating ancient culture. Maybe this abundance of attractions explains why its globally unmatched fungal economy has not received more attention yet. For centuries, Tibetans have collected and traded mushrooms; “Yartsa gunbu” (caterpillar fungus - Cordyceps sinensis) even functioned traditionally as a currency.
Improved communication and the commodification of natural resources have caused an astounding mushrooming of the fungus industry. The market is dominated by Yartsa gunbu, which accounts for over 95% of the fungi market value. In Tibet, it contributes 40% to the rural cash income. Its contribution to the GDP equals the whole manufacturing and mining sector. Currently it is the world’s most precious medicinal fungus reaching over $30,000 per kg. Every year in spring, Tibetans comb the alpine grasslands for this elusive fungus feeding on larvae, while forest down below are searched for “gugu shamo”, the “cuckoo mushroom” (Morchella spp.), which is exported to Europe.
During the summer, “besha” (Tricholoma matsutake) is collected to be flown fresh to Japan. Daily, entire villages with access to oak forests – hence the Tibetan name “oak mushroom” - collect besha for a 6-8 week period. An array of other mushrooms, such as Amanita hemibapha, Hygrophorus russula, Rozites emodensis, many boletes (Boletus, Leccinum), Cantharellus, and several species of Sarcodon and Tricholoma to mention a few, is also collected for the markets.
This presentation will combine Daniel’s fungal research with highlights from his recent “MushRoaming” tours to Tibet http://www.mushroaming.com/ ranging from familiar and exotic mushrooms, mushroom markets, local collectors to monasteries nestled at the foot of ice capped mountains.
Daniel Winkler, trained as a geographer and ecologist, works as researcher and NGO consultant on environmental issues of the Tibetan Plateau and Himalayas. He has published on forest ecology, forestry, land-use, and medicinal plants and fungi (see www.danielwinkler.com ). Since 1998, Daniel is tracking yartsa gunbu, researching Tibet’s mushroom industry and its importance for rural people. Daniel is also leading “MushRoaming” tours to Tibet ( www.mushroaming.com ). He lives in Kirkland, WA and has been a member of the Puget Sound Mycological Society since 1996. (Image from mushroaming.com, a Tibetan painting)
Mushroom Species Lists
Mount Pisgah Mushroom Show Species List 1983-2006
Download Excel Spreadsheet
Download PDF
Hendricks Park Species List
Download Word Document
Image Courtesy M.Johnson
In the Beginning - CMS and the Pisgah Festival
By Molly Widmer
How does the Cascade Mycological Society (CMS) fit in with the fall Mushroom Festival at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum (MPA)? Well, CMS is a 501c3 educational non-profit organization incorporated in 1999 “to study fungi; to educate members and the public about fungal identification and ecology; to promote conserva-tion of fungi; to promote safety in the gathering and consumption of edible fungi; and to HAVE FUN! CMS’s annual participation in the fall Mushroom Festival at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum satisfies all of these goals!
The group’s history is intricately tied in with that of the Mt. Pisgah Arboretum as well as Lane Community College (LCC). The three community organizations have connecting threads just like the mycelial strands that tie together mushrooms and their habitats. Freeman Rowe and Marcia Peeters were early originators and the incredible energy behind Mt. Pisgah Arboretum’s annual fall fundraising event, the MPA Mushroom Festival. They still grace the Mushroom Festival with their huge talent and dedication, providing critical organizational and identification skills that keep the mushroom display one of the best around. You are invited to bring your mystery fungi to the Identification Table at the show; and whether or not you bring specimens, don’t forget to pop in and say hi to these fine fungal celebrities!
But what is the Lane Community College connection? Freeman Rowe taught botany at LCC for many years, and also originated the incredibly popular Biology of Mushrooms class, which he taught until his retirement in 1996. The class remains popular, and today is taught by Marcia Peeters, one of Eugene’s best field mycologists, one of Freeman’s most talented students, and for many years the fearless bus driver for the LCC mushroom class weekend fieldtrips.
Cascade Mycological Society grew like a beautiful wild mushroom from the fertile mycelium of the LCC class and the MPA Mushroom Festival. CMS was originally developed and incorporated primarily by enthusiastic students of Freeman Rowe’s at LCC, and today many CMS members are past or present students of the Biology of Mushrooms class – more than a few of them repeat enrollees!
The MPA Mushroom Festival is today still supported by LCC, especially participants of the Biology of Mushrooms class. Together with members of CMS and many volunteers from the community at large, students have historically provided critical volunteer labor for collecting and setting up one of the largest fungal displays on the west coast, with named species numbering in the several hundreds each year. Volunteers for the show contribute hundreds of hours each year, to collect, identify, and display these ephemeral marvels of nature, beauty, and intrigue.
CMS is pleased to help MPA organize this important fundraiser. And we welcome new members as we begin a new fungal season of forays, talks, and special events. The public is invited to all CMS events and membership is not required.
This year’s MPA Mushroom Festival poster depicts a familiar edible fungus in our area, the Shaggy Mane (Latin name Coprinus comatus). The fall season brings many ecological changes to our corner of the world, and this mushroom is one of the developments you may notice in town or in on edges of woods in grassy areas, disturbed ground, roadsides, and trails. It is edible and many consider it very tasty, especially dredged in beaten egg and crushed saltines, then fried until golden, but of course only after POSITIVE identification.
When the proper environmental triggers occur (rain, cool temperatures, etc.) an underground mycelium (the threadlike network of tissue which makes up the bulk of the fungal organism) will produce a “fruiting body” or mushroom. This process can be rather rapid - days or even hours – and the mushroom can exhibit amazing growth and upward pressure, pushing up through soil, or in the case of Shaggy Manes, sometimes even asphalt!
Another amazing trait of Shaggy Manes is their unusual method of spore dispersal. Often referred to as “Inky Caps,” these mushrooms are unlike many common edible mushrooms which produce dry spores, often carried to new areas by air currents. (That more common dispersal process creates the “spore print” often captured on paper to observe its color and aid mushroom identification.) Inky Caps, however, rely on a unique process whereby the spore-bearing gills dissolve, or “deliquesce” into an inky black liquid, rich with spores. It is this liquid which, given the appropriate habitat, begins the cycle of life again. This trait may be good for new crops of mushrooms, but it is less attractive to the would-be gourmet or gourmand! If you are lucky enough to have properly identified Shaggy Manes for the table, be sure to keep them refrigerated and use them immediately, or you too will know why they are called Inky Caps!
Note: Deliquescing is a chemical reaction which can be arrested by placing the mushroom in an oxygen-free environment. We display the Coprinus comatus at the MPA mushroom show in a water-filled jar, a trick learned from the Lincoln County Mycological Society.
1998 Mt. Pisgah Arboretum Mushroom Show and Fall Festival: Mushroom Display
By Peg Boulay
Last autumn, mushroom fans watched the weather with anticipation and foreboding. A prolonged summer drought and early freeze in the mountains did not promise a bountiful array of fungal fruitings. To seasoned collectors, the mushrooms seemed fewer and less diverse than in other years. We worried about how the display at the show would be. Would there be no mushrooms?
But our concern was unfounded. To everyone’s surprise, this year’s display had an
impressive 283 species, the 2nd highest number of species ever recorded at the Mt. Pisgah mushroom show. The 1997 show had the highest number of species ever collected, with a grand total of 310. The Mt. Pisgah Mushroom Show has become the largest of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Visits by a mushroom expert from Washington, a mushroom photographer from California, a documentary film crew from Canada, and a mushroom fanatic from New Zealand reflected the growing fame of the show!Each year the number of volunteers helping out with the mushroom display increases, and the more people looking for unusual fungi and the more people identifying the odd mushrooms, the more intriguing the variety of species we have at the show! With some of the bigger mushrooms missing this year, dozens of volunteer collectors looked more diligently to find the smaller mushrooms that were fruiting. The diversity of mushrooms also reflected the expertise of visiting experts who worked on identifying some of the more mysterious and challenging groups of mushrooms. All these efforts resulted in 44 mushrooms species that were displayed at the show for the first time.
As usual, a table of experts identified mushrooms as they arrived and provided sage
advice to collectors with questions. Festival-goers who brought mushrooms from backyards, parks, and forests were given the name and interesting life history facts about their favorite fungi. We are grateful to the mushroom authorities who donated their time and expertise at the Identification table: Ankie Camacho, Freeman Rowe, Dan Luoma, Jamie Platt, Bruce Newhouse, Suzie Holmes, Molly Widmer, and Marcia Peeters.It was a difficult but fun task for “Best of Show” judge Freeman Rowe to choose the most spectacular specimens among hundreds of interesting, colorful and lovely mushrooms. The grand prize was awarded to a striking cluster of the rare Golden Phaeolepiota (Phaeolepiota aurea), collected by Dan Luoma. The first runner-up was given to a firm, juicy Beefsteak Fungus (Fistulina hepatica). It was the only specimen that came to the show and was collected by Jeani Sapienza. The second runner-up was won by a large, blushing Bitter Bolete (Boletus calopus), collected by Kendon Bright. The fortunate finders each won a framed display of Mexican postage stamps portraying beautifully-illustrated mushrooms.
Edible and Poisonous mushroom displays were popular displays again and included 18 common edible mushrooms and 12 poisonous mushrooms. Visitors were able to compare an edible Golden Chanterelle (Cantharellus formosus) right next to several poisonous look-alikes, including the False Chanterelle (Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca) and Scaly Chanterelle (Gomphus floccosus). Knowledgeable volunteers (Cheshire Mayrsohn, Peg Boulay, Rebecca Meyer, and Russ Kelly) answered questions such as “Are there any deadly mushrooms in Oregon?,” “Are there any rules for telling a poisonous mushroom from an edible one?,” and “What is a good way to cook the Cauliflower Mushroom (Sprassis crispa)?” In addition to providing guidelines for safe consumption of fungi, the volunteers even shared a few of their favorite recipes.
The annual popularity of educational displays inspired us to expand the display section, making the show even more diverse and interesting. Members of the North American Truffling Society, based in Corvallis, answered questions about truffles and brought aromatic dried specimens and truffling tools. Lichens of all sorts of colors, shapes and textures were on display. Jamie Platt and Eric Peterson of Oregon State University chatted about the fascinating life cycles and ecology of lichens, which are actually 2 organisms (a fungus and either a algae or a bacteria) benefiting each other. The “Weird and Wonderful” table, created by Cheshire Mayrsohn, humorously presented some of the more unusual looking and named fungi. The U.S. Forest Service provided information on ecologically-responsible mushroom collecting and gave out collection permits. And once again, we were fortunate to have Maggie Rogers from the Oregon Mycological Society present her display on dying with mushrooms. Maggie was surrounded by a glowing rainbow of golds, pinks, purples, blues and greens, all samples of wool dyed using mushrooms for color.
We plan on having all this and more at the 1999 Mt. Pisgah Mushroom Show. The volunteer organizers have brain-stormed even more great ideas for new displays we would like to
attempt, such as a cooking demonstration and a “Smell and Touch” discovery table. Mark your calenders now for the best family fun event of the fall!
2000 Mt. Pisgah Arboretum and Cascade Mycological Society Mushroom Show and Fall Festival: Mushroom Display Article for Tree Times
By Peg Boulay and Marcia Peeters
Despite a crispy, crunchy, mushroom-unfriendly fall, new and expanded education and
activity tables made the mushroom display at the 2000 Mt. Pisgah Mushroom Show and Fall Festival one of the best ever! Cascade Mycological Society joined Mt. Pisgah Arboretum as show sponsors, which meant even more volunteers and creative energy to help produce one of the premier mushroom shows in the West! The dry Autumn caused sporadic and unpredicable mushroom fruitings in western Oregon. But the persistence and knowledge of volunteer collectors resulted in a respectable mushroom display of 290 species. Twenty-six of these species had not been previously identified at the show.
Once again, we were fortunate to have expert help in identifying mushrooms and
answering visitors’ questions. We are very grateful to Dan Luoma & Joyce Eberhart from Oregon State University, Ankie Camacho from University of California Berkeley, and our local specialists Freeman Rowe, Joe Spivack, and several CMS members for sharing their expertise.
There is always much speculation as to what muchrooms will win the coveted “Best of
Show” prize. This year Ryan Turner’s spectacularly large and intricate Daedalea quercina was deemed best of the best. The 1st prize was awarded to several Phallus impudicus,
ranging in age from egg to fully mature, collected by Kyle Hammon and his students, Tad
Butler, Travis Marep, and Darcy Hulse, and 2st place went to to an impressively large
Boletus edulis collected by Aubrey Carney. As if finding these treasures wasn’t exciting
enough, the lucky winners were awarded ribbons and beautiful framed mushroom stamps from Mexico. Freeman Rowe, founder and judge of the Best of Show contest, generously donated the prizes.
The expanded educational tent proved popular with show-goers. There was more room for the “Edible and Poisonous” display, which was always crowded. This display allowed viewers to compare edible mushrooms with their non-edible look-alikes and ask questions on identification, finding edibles, tips on habitat for different species, and even favorite
recipes.
“Fun Facts about Fungi” was a new display that included information on fungal ecology,
especially relationships between fungi and plants (mychorrizae, mycotrophic plants) and the role of these relationships in plant establishment and growth. The display also featured some hands-on activities that particularly engaged kids. The activity area called “A Closer Look” provided 10x power magnifying lens and mushrooms with interesting details and textures to examine. We used a microscope and a videoscope, kindly provided by Lane Community College, to project images of mushroom spores. Spores are normally invisible to the unaided eye but are often interesting and ornate, which piqued the interest of our visitors.
The Lichen display was also expanded this year, with over 60 species identified. This
year’s “Cultural Use of Mushrooms” focused on cultivated medicinal mushrooms and included commercially-grown blocks of Ling Chi (Ganoderma lucidum) and Maitake (Grifola frondosa).
With the help of dedicated and patient volunteers we achieved another first, we
digitally photographed all of the mushrooms on display. These photographs will serve as a reference library, will help with future identification, and will someday be available to
the public through CMS’s webpage. We would like to thank Action Rentall & Party Time, who loaned us a 20′ x 20′ canopy that we used for a “behind the scenes” work area for mushroom identification and digital photography. We also used the work area to store odd, peculiar, and rare fungi waiting to be identified. We always need a place to put those lonely boxes of generic brown mushrooms - often belonging to the difficult genera Cortinarius, Russula, and Ramaria!
North American Truffling Society (NATS) participated again this year, displaying
different kinds of truffles and answering questions. Terry Gatchell also joined us again
to demonstrate pasteurization and innoculation techniques for home-grown mushrooms and sold his cultivation kits. Other vendors sold wild mushrooms and other “grow your own” kits, including shitake logs. Representatives from the Willamette and Siuslaw National Forests and the US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station gave out free mushroom picking permits and information on collecting mushrooms on public land.
Among our innovations this year, we decided to leave the show up an extra day, hoping to
provide a learning experience for school groups. The LCC mycology students took advantage of the extra opportunity to study the mushrooms, but we were not able to line up schools at short notice. We plan on leaving the display up longer next year, and will invite schools in advance. We also hope to explore funding possibilities to assist school participation, as we were told that school field trip budgets have been slashed.
We are planning even more new displays and activities for next year, and perhaps a few surprises to celebrate the 20th Mt. Pisgah Mushroom Show and Fall Festival. See you next year!
The Cascade Mycology Society is grateful for the great energy, hard work, dedication,
and commitment of so many volunteers. The following volunteers helped create, set up, and staff the mushroom displays: Cameron Bergen, Bob Blanchard, Peg Boulay, Jim Boyd, Kendon Bright, Ron Hamill, Kyle Hammon, Russ Kelly, Krista Kennard, Cheshire Mayrsohn, Chris Melloti, Rebecca Meyer, Bruce Newhouse, Marcia Peeters, Dave Pilz, Jena Price, Freeman Rowe, Jeani Sapienza, Orin Schumacher, Karen Tate, Ryan Turner, Molly Widmer, the LCC Mycology students, and the dozens of people who collect mushrooms for the show each year.
Mount Pisgah Arboretum honors Cascade Mycological Society: Twenty Years - And Fruiting More Abundantly Than Ever!
At the Arboretum’s annual meeting, on behalf of CMS, Marcia Peeters accepted a beautifully framed 2001 Mushroom Show poster. Cascade Mycological Society is grateful and honored to have received an award for extraordinary service from the Mount Pisgah Arboretum.
By Marcia Peters
Hundreds of volunteers and thousands of hours make the Mt. Pisgah Arboretum and Cascade Mycological Society Mushroom Show what it is today - a Fantastic Fall Festival which must not be missed!
The Mt. Pisgah Arboretum Mushroom Show was started in 1981 by Freeman Rowe and students of his Lane Community College Mushroom Class - along with former students and dedicated volunteers from the community. Created as a fundraiser for the Arboretum, the show grew to the stately stature it is today, spawning the Cascade Mycological Society in its wake. Every year, as the show grows, so do the opportunities one can indulge in.
Our mycotrophic plants display included Allatropa virgata (candy stick) and it’s fungal associate Tricholoma magnivelare (matsutake), Monotropa uniflora (Indian pipe) with various Russula species, Hemitomes congestum (gnome plant) with various Hydnellum species, and Pleuricospora fimbriolata (fringed pinesap) with Gautieria monticola. This display was very nicely done to include a dried example of the plant, the fresh mushroom, and a poster explaining the relationship.
Other posters included information on ants and termites that ‘farm’ fungi for food, the largest known fungus on the planet, mushroom structure, spore prints, mychorrhizal relationships, truffles, poisonous mushrooms, edible mushrooms, the effects of commercial harvesting and more. One could peruse the books on fungi or use a handlens to take a closer look at the gills or pores of a mushroom. Thanks to Lane Community College, one could view spores and spore ornamentation via a monitor hooked to a phase contrast microscope, or look at those teeny tiny fungal parts with a dissecting scope.
A large lichen display, covering 2 1/2 tables was available, as were knowledgeable volunteers to answer those many many questions. Lichens consist of a fungus and an algae living in a symbiotic relationship. The fungus provides the structure while the algae provides the food.
Maggie Rogers brought her wonderful collection of mushroom-dyed wool, Taylor Lockwood signed and sold his new book, the Willamette National Forest issued personal use permits, commercial mushroom kits were available for purchase, and Terry Gatchell once again offered pasteurization demonstrations.
Freeman Rowe’s ‘Best of Show’ awards included: Lentinellus montanus (Best of Show), Auricularia auricula (First Place), and Catathelasma ventricosa (Second Place).
Representatives from Cascade Mycological Society (CMS), North American Truffling Society (NATS), Oregon Mycological Society (OMS), and Oregon State University were on hand to answer questions and identify mushrooms.
We had 328 mushrooms on display - an all time record high - with 44 of those ‘new to the show’. So far, over the 20 years, we’ve recorded 660 species on display. Now that’s fungal diversity!
Many thanks to Freeman Rowe - a most inspirational, charismatic and empowering person! For without his insight 20 years ago, we would not be here today.
Article for "Tree Time," journal of the Mt. Pisgah Arboretum.
By Molly Widmer December, 1999
In a temperate clime, every season has unique and characteristic high points of beauty; days and parts of days where the wheel of the seasons seems to stop, and one is suspended in the ideal of that season. On a day like this, the perfection of nature’s beauty is borne forcibly home into one’s mind and spirit, and one’s entire being is saturated with the sensory delights peculiar to this exact time of year. Such a day brings out the poetic and romantic elements in one’s nature- drawn from who knows what reserve- that another day would leave uninspired. The funny thing is how this experience is reserved for each season and change of season in turn. The magic of the early spring day when the warming soil can first be smelled on the air is only perfect during the time of year when all is young or still unborn. On such a day, this seems the only kind of beauty we can possibly understand or desire, and the hunger for delights autumnal seems an impossibility, a faded memory with no force of immediacy or reality.
But by late October, the heat and powerful herbaceous developments of summer have satiated our terrible need for ease and wealth and solar radiation. Our hungry skins have been bronzed, our hair is streaked with sunlight, the soles of our sandaled feet have become worthy of summer’s treks. And though it never seems possible even a few short weeks earlier, we become at first resigned to, and then accepting of, and finally willing for the cool ripeness of autumn. For those who work on and attend the Mt. Pisgah Mushroom Festival, the promise of fall holds such breathless excitement because it brings with it the onset of rains, and soon after, carpets of glistening mushrooms pushing up through a newly springy, fragrant forest floor. “Drenching rains” and cool temperatures call out the fruiting bodies of millions of tiny and great fungi in every conceivable niche.
There is the fragrant, buried treasure of truffles, burgeoning unseen among the rootlets of the great trees, and countless, tiny Mycenas rising on thin translucent stalks from twigs, fallen leaves, and rotting logs. There are armies of grass-loving species in brave troops nearly anywhere poison hasn’t been used, and hearty queues of gravel-lovers pushing up through the edges of forest roads, marching in commensal sympathy along the path of least resistance adhered to by those who avoid the deep forest. Everywhere one looks (if one really looks!) there are gorgeous, bizarre, and undreamed-of expressions of fungal diversity.
Waxy, brightly-colored cup fungi puff fertile clouds of spores at the slightest warm human breath. Warted, ringed, and bulb-based Amanitas tower in dominant splendor, their singular architecture demanding respect and admiration every single time they are encountered. Jelly-like growths amaze us with their jewel-like depths, their silken, unstructured
evanescence.
And the fragrances! Unique to this season is an entire universe of powerful and diverse olfactory delights. The rain-soaked soils and even the rocks give off subtle, pervasive mineral and humic scents which define the smell of cool, moist air. Against this background, the mushroom-hunter
is rewarded with a rich tapestry of fragrances specific to various fungi, one rising from nearly every fungus encountered. There is the surprising match of strong fruity and sweet scents with the corky, tough conks; and the mouth- watering almond and anise scents inviting the lucky picker to savor choice edibles. There are intense, unbelievably familiar scents which punctuate the complacency of one’s hunting rhythm: Chlorine, so sharp it nearly hurts! Watermelon, as undeniable as any teeny-bopper’s bubble gum! Vanilla, strong enough to be used as a sachet! Anise! Almond! Garlic! Seafood! And, once experienced, no-one ever forgets the arresting cinnamon odor which emanates from the legendary matsutake even before their handsome, thick-fleshed caps have pushed clear of the sandy soil! Mushroom-lovers usually begin dreaming humid, fragrant dreams fairly long in advance of the rainy season. This year, however, the sodden spring and tepid early summer belayed our willingness to relinquish late summer’s heat and comforts.
Revolting somewhat against the inexorable turn of the seasons, many of us felt that early fall rains would be unfair somehow, that our solar banks were not yet full, and that we deserved the full measure of our azure and burning days. The deal was kept: rains did not come, the days continued perfect, long, baking, static. Long into late September, long into October.
Finally, one by one, those of us planning the species display at the Mt. Pisgah Mushroom Festival surprised ourselves as the long Indian summer dragged on, by admitting to a desire for rain. This year, founding members of the newly-formed Cascade Mycological Society (CMS) took responsibility for the display as the single most important goal in our first year of organization. When the rains did not come, and still did not come, we started joking, at first fantastically, and later with an increasing sense of uncomfortable “what if-ness” about the possibility that the rains would not come in time to sponsor a rich and wonderful display for the Mushroom Festival. Many of us remembered the same worries leading up to last year’s Festival, and we knew, based on the last-minute success of the display in 1998 (second-greatest diversity in the history of the show) that this year’s show would probably turn out all right. But as October ticked along, reports came in from devoted hunters in three states, scouring the
mountains and the coast, crawling on hands and knees along creek banks, searching out any topographic feature where moisture and cool air might sink and settle. And the reports were negative. Not just “no choice edibles,” or “no charismatic macrofungi,” but “no fungi at all.” Even little brown mushrooms. Even Mycenas. Even Inocybes. Even conks. No fungi at all.
Right up to two weeks before the show, it was unclear what kind of display could be made. Mushroom shows were being put off and canceled in nearby areas, and forays were turning up very little at all. The Mt. Pisgah Mushroom Festival has never been canceled, and the vow was made that it would not be canceled now.
Finally, the drought began to break, but only by thin, brief showers which were evaporated into the hot air, or absorbed into the treetops. One locale would have sprinkles, and another would receive nothing. Even where precipitation did penetrate the canopy, moisture beaded up on waxy, hydrophobic duff, or the desiccated soils were barely dampened, and swallowed up the precious moisture without yielding fungi in return. The threshold was not being met, and the window (defined by the lag-time required for mushroom development) was closing fast. Finally, in the very last days before the show, well-loved sites in the Cascades and the coast began to yield. An army of devoted, experienced, and alert collectors ramified out into the countryside, seeking any and all expressions of fungal fruition. No Mycena was too small. No resupinate polypore too obscure, no “little brown job” too intimidating. Everything was collected. Everything was attempted. It has been mentioned hat the new group Cascade Mycological Society (CMS) took on the planning of this now famous event It may have been a brand-new Society, but this was not an all-new crew by any means: At the head of this mycelium of mycophiles were the intensely productive personalities who have organized and developed the show every year since they dreamed it up: Marcia Peeters and Freeman Rowe. They have been joined in recent years by organizational powerhouses Peg Boulay and Bruce Newhouse, who have enhanced documentation and enumeration of the show’s amazing abundance (Peg is CMS’ first President, as well). The fleet of volunteer collectors also included people in the community who have been helping bring in the bounty for years, every year. In the tradition, the Lane Community College Mushroom class devoted hours of student volunteer time to help with set-up, this year under new instructor Eric B. Peterson, ably following in the famous footsteps of Freeman Rowe and Ankie Camatcho before him. Scores of people spent uncounted hours in long-term and last-minute organizational work, and the day before the show, the massive push was made: the tables and nametags and displays and decorations were set up, and myriad mushrooms were carefully identified and set out by members of Cascade Mycological Society and friends.
As in past years, expert mycologists and taxonomists were enlisted to identify specimens coming in on the day of the show. Help came from many groups and individuals, including Dan Luoma, Joyce Eberhart, Andrea Humpert, and Nancy Weber from OSU; Jamie Platt and Ankie Camatcho from Berkeley, formerly of OSU; and many individuals from the new Cascade Mycological Society, notably Festival organizer and walking encyclopedias Marcia Peeters and Freeman Rowe (CMS’ newly honored Member for Life!).
It was through the efforts of these experts that the Festival boasted in incredible 53 species new to the already impressive cumulative tally. Against what seemed like impossible odds, the last mushroom display for the millennium yielded a total of 280 species, and came in third most diverse in the Festival’s twenty year history! A rich symbiosis was further encouraged between researchers, students, amateurs, and agency personnel to bring mycology in our area to new heights. Specimens were accessioned into the OSU Herbarium, and there were several new and surprising identifications credited to the show by sharp-eyed and diligent taxonomists. These efforts were supported by a newly expanded area behind the scenes where those braving the more difficult groups could work quietly at banks of microscopes. Both the Siuslaw and Willamette National Forests were present to provide personal use picking permits, and there were beautiful and informative posters and displays on a variety of subjects. Dave Pilz presented his research on commercial mushroom harvest, Terry Gatchell demonstrated pasteurization and inoculation of mushroom spawn into straw. The North American Truffling Society of Corvallis sent us Charles leFevre and Dan Wheeler, identifying underground fungi and answering questions about these fragrant but cryptic fruits. There were even innoculated mushroom-growing blocks for sale, and examples of shiitake, oyster, and Hericium cultivation.
A very popular tradition was enjoyed when Freeman Rowe awarded the honors and prizes for the top three finds of the show: Bruce Newhouse’s Best of Show Laetiporus sulphureus (a gorgeous, brilliant orange shelf fungi prized as a choice edible), Danna Lytjen’s first place Ganoderma applanatum (a huge and perfectly preserved “Artist’s conk” of exquisite proportions), and Dan Wheeler’s second place Boletus edulis (a truly massive example of this most sought-after and handsome species).
The Mushroom Festival was enhanced this year by a fascinating array of display tables. Drawing large crowds were tables on cultural uses of fungi, lichen identification and ecology, edible and poisonous species, and new this year, the “adult discovery table,” a place where folks could peruse a selection of books, use a microscope, touch and smell fresh specimens. This table holds much potential for a changing kaleidoscope of first-hand mushroom experiences in future years. Speaking of potential, there is always a sign-up table for festival goers who wish to help with the mushroom display next year. If you missed this table and would like to become involved, you can call Marcia Peeters at 343-3575. Cascade Mycological Society also had a table — if you missed it, and would like information about how you can be involved, you can call Molly Widmer (746-7548 or 683-6797).
Our first general meeting is being held December 9, 1999, at Lane Community College, and there are many plans for this quickly- growing organization in the new millennium.