18th Annual Point Reyes National Seashore Fungus Fair
January 11, 2025 - Collecting Foray | Red Barn, Bear Valley
Join us for a collecting foray 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. We'll meet in front of the Bear Valley Visitor Center parking lot to organize. Be sure to bring a basket or bag, water, compass, knife, pencil/pen, and a lunch.
This is a collecting event for the fair, not a guided foray. Be prepared to learn, and be prepared to participate!
Bring collections to the Red Barn starting at 1:00 pm for identification. No registration required; just show up before 10:00 am. Contact David Rust 510.468.5014 for more details.
January 12, 2025 - Fungus Fair | Bear Valley Visitor Center
10:00 am — 4:00 pm
During the 18th Annual Fungus Fair on Sunday, January 12, 2025, wild mushrooms collected in the park will be on display on the south porch of the Bear Valley Visitor Center with several mushroom-related exhibits inside the visitor center. We will also have presentations in the auditorium throughout the day. Roving Mushroom Ambassadors will be available to answer your questions, both indoors and out. Bring mushrooms you’ve found and are curious about. This is a free event, open to all.
Speaker Schedule
| 11:00 am | Movie | Try it and See: The Story Behind the Discovery of Mushroom Dyes |
| 12:30 pm | Debbie Viess | Zen and the Art of Mushroom Hunting |
| 2:00 pm | Cat Adams | Fungi through Time |
Sponsored by Point Reyes National Seashore and Bay Area Mycological Society! Contact David Rust 510.468.5014 for more details. Visit our event page to learn more.
Tom Volk Memorial in Mycologia
We just found out about this tribute to Tom in Mycologia, published last month, and written by Hal Burdsall, Dan Lindner, and Todd Osmundson. For those who didn't know him, Tom was a towering yet humble figure in North American mycology. He taught and inspired countless students as Professor of Mycology at UW LaCrosse, and volunteered thousands of hours towards helping others, whether by donating time to amateur mycology, or assisting his beloved Wisconsin marching band, Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps, in ways both small (helping to feed them at events) and large (financing a food truck). Tom always had time for the "little fun guy and gal," and was beloved by everyone, not just for his scholarship but for his character. What a shining light he was, and with a wicked sense of humor, too!
Tom spoke to BAMS three times: January 2010 on polypore taxonomy; January 2014 on the secret sex lives of fungi; and January 2016 on the seven deadly sins committed by fungi. Volk was a prominent figure in the North American Mycological Association and served as Institutional Trustee for over a decade. Click here to read the memorial in Mycologia.
Amatoxin: The Deadliest of All Mushroom Poisonings
Debbie Viess has written a new modern treatment of amatoxin: what mushrooms contain it, mode of action, poisoning symptoms, and best treatments. Although amatoxin causes human and animal deaths around the world every year, with prompt care in a modern medical/veterinary facility, the chances of surviving and having a full recovery are quite good. Only around 12% of healthy adults poisoned will die or require a liver transplant. Without such care, human deaths are closer to 50%.
We lack good statistics for pet poisonings, but their poisonings are often more severe and more often fatal, but even in the case of dog poisonings, there are protocols available that can increase the rate of survival. To read this important new article, follow this link...
Sex and the Single Stinkhorn
Some rumors need a strong denial. In this essay, Debbie Viess obliterates the proposition put forth in a sketchy study published in an obscure journal that a species of stinkhorn may cause spontaneous female arousal. The authors' attempt to wrap this ridiculous idea in Hawaiian myth is firmly debunked. Although first published in 2001, the idea that this phenomenon is real persists and occasionally gets notice on social media sites. To read Debbie's humorous and direct response, follow this link...
This article first appeared in Mushroom the Journal, Issue 114, Volume 31, No.4, Fall 2015, p. 16.
Further Reflections on Amanita muscaria as an Edible Species
Here is a thoughtful response to the current push to eat Amanita muscaria, along with a history of its treatment in field guides, its toxins, and warnings about edibility. To read the article, follow this link...
This article first appeared in Mushroom The Journal, Issue 110, Fall 2011 - Winter 2012, p. 42.
The Bay Area Mycological Society (BAMS), established in 2006, is dedicated to the art and science of mushrooms. We hold our meetings at UC Berkeley. We hold local and long distance forays, participate in the Yosemite National Park Fungal Survey, and organize the Point Reyes Fungus Fairs and All California Club Forays.
We are affiliated with the North American Mycological Association. We host a lively online discussion group. Our members range from beginners to professionals in the field. We believe that everyone wants to learn, and has ideas to share. Join us.
