BAMS Events and Forays 2006-2017

It's hard to believe we've put on this event for 12 years; just keeps getting better every time. This year's list of speakers featured Stephanie Jarvis, M.Sc Partner in California Truffle Orchards, and proprietor of Napa Valley Fungi, who gave a talk on "Truffles and Their Funky Friends". Lots of attendees and new species (12) to the ongoing list of fungi at Point Reyes National Seashore.

We found lots of yellow morels, recently renamed Morchella frustrata, had a great potluck dinner, and explored new territory in the Southern Sierra. Saturday night dinner featured a cooking comparison of black, yellow, and creekside morels. We explored over to Hume Lake, where snow plants were in abundance. Many thanks to Brent Tindall, who served as our host and guide. Eshom is a beautiful campground, and we'd go there again in a flash. To see a summary and learn more about this foray, follow this link...

Else Vellinga gave a great talk on Friday night about collecting fungi for science titled, "From Blitz to Trench: Inventorying California's Mycoflora". On Saturday evening, Debbie Viess presented, "Amanitas of Eastern Europe, through a North American Eye". We had attendees from all over, including Lynn Ovenden, Ontario, Canada. This was the last ACCF event for Ryane Snow, who passed away that spring. To see the full event page, follow this link...

This was the year of the Gastroboletus in the park. And lots of other great fungi to add to the species list. And thanks to the park staff, we were called to find more fungi late in the year, on Halloweeen weekend. Yes, we gave up a party to hunt mushrooms. Sadly, we found Amanita phalloides in the Valley. To see more about this survey, follow this link...

The memorial for Larry on October 3, 2010 at the Randall Museum was attended by scores of his friends, old and new. Larry's family was also able to attend. Many thanks to Debbie, Lorrie, and Mike for making it happen. The tribute page is still being updated and serves as a reminder for us to live life to its fullest, with generosity and compassion.

Please visit the tribute page to see photos and stories. To add your story, contact David Rust by email.

Louise Glass, PhD, professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at UC Berkeley, presented: "Fungal Communication and the Formation of Hyphal Networks."

For the joint meeting of BAMS and the San Francisco Microscopical Society, Dr. Glass started the evening with a look at her Koshland Hall lab. Learn more...

We found a patch of Amanita franchetii in fine fettle and several folks located different species of Inocybes. Two blewits were found, identifiable through both smell and color, altho they were a bit past their edibility expiration date, and even a couple of candy caps were brought in, stipes snapping and latex leaking. Learn more about this foray...

The All California Club Foray was a resounding success! Attended by folks from California and beyond — including a fun group from the Puget Sound Mycological Society, we collected over 215 species of mushrooms, plus tons of edibles to take home, and feasted on catered meals. Thank you to our foray mycologist, Oluna Ceska, who traveled all the way from Victoria, BC. To see more about this event, follow this link...

This joint foray is the brainchild of Amy Wolitzer, a Ranger and Naturalist at the Park and and a fairly new convert to the wonderful world of fungi. She told me that this is her favorite event for the whole year. Our walk has grown in popularity, and the insidious tentacles of mycophilia have started to reach beyond the confines of our small yet fervent group. To see more about this event, follow this link...

This survey was initiated by professional mycologists Dr. Tom Bruns, UC Berkeley Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, and Dr. Dennis Desjardin, SFSU Department of Biology. Many skilled amateur mycologists are also participating in the survey because of their expertise in mushroom identification. To see more about this survey, follow this link...

Many species were found, including a number of delicious edibles, and everyone had a great time coursing the gorgeous Salt Point State Park woods and checking out the wild, wild sea... the pounding surf made it not such a great weekend to be abalone diving, although the campground was filled with those willing to try! More about the foray on this page...

The Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve (BCCER) has tremendous ecological diversity, with meadows, chapparal, watercourses, canyons and rock cliffs — all layered with unusual plants and abundant wildlife. The Reserve ranges in elevation from 700–2,044 feet. The property is home to seven plus species of oaks, native pines and manzanita. We are grateful to have been invited to this beautiful place to do a mushroom census. To see more about this survey, follow this link...

Our goal as a club was to partner with UC and help to elucidate some of the Russula diversity, and we all accomplished that goal handily. There was a lot out there for an experienced taxonomist to pick and choose from, and all backed by DNA samples for eventually work-up in the Davis lab. To see the results of this magical day in the lab, follow this link...

On Hwy. 1 at the Salt Point Woodside Campground entrance, our group waved colorful signs, and connected with campers, hikers and park staff. We accomplished our goal of raising awareness, and our "Honk if you love State Parks" signs drew a big response. The weather was delightful: bright sun tempered with a cool breeze. Most park visitors we spoke with had no idea about the issues. To learn more, follow this link...

It was a great weekend on the Mendocino coast for members of many of our California mushroom clubs. Happy faces, beautiful weather, fine food and just enough fungi made for a fun time for all. Especially heartening was the crowd of happy taxonomists hanging in the riverside lab, collaborating on IDs, scoping their finds, perusing the literature and generally having a geeky good time with fungi. To learn more about this foray, follow this link...

With snow-covered Mount Lassen looming at the end of the highway, friends old and new gathered near Lake Almanor for a day-long Sierra mushroom hunt. Local residents and BAMS foray hosts Herman and Cecelia Brown spent many hours scouting locations before our arrival. Their tireless efforts and generous natures resulted in a very successful foray. To see more about this foray, follow this link...

Debbie still seemed to be finding morels up the hill a bit. We all went in her direction as soon as she yelled, "They're everywhere!" They were. We picked and picked and picked, and then we picked some more. While we were busy up the hill, Larry had picked a full bag right near the cars. To find out what other fungi were found on this foray, follow this link...

On Saturday morning, after a yummy breakfast of crepes, and fresh fruit, and bacon, we headed out into the field. Our first stop was just East of the Field Station, along Hwy. 49 and the Yuba River, in a mixed pine/fir/cedar forest. There were intermittent patches of snow. Although we had to work hard for our fungi, we still managed to find piles of good stuff, and by Saturday afternoon our fine group of IDers were hard at work. In our gloomy basement lab, Dr. Else Vellinga and Phil Carpenter puzzled over the Tricholomas... To see more about this foray, follow this link...