2018 Telluride Mushroom Festival

The North American Mycoflora Project is an effort to document the diversity of macrofungi (mushrooms, puffballs, corals, and other fleshy fungi) on the continent. The Southern Rockies of Colorado has some of largest expanse of uninterrupted montane forests in the United States, which are home to a vast community mushroom forming fungi. The Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi at Denver Botanic Gardens is a regional contributor to the North American Mycoflora Project but this is a massive undertaking in the Southern Rockies, requiring more than just professional contributions. Any attempt to document mushroom diversity in the region will require the involvement of students, amateur mycologists, and motivated citizen scientists. Dr. Andrew Wilson of the SMHF will be discussing this effort in terms of its challenges, rewards, and how you can contribute to the Colorado Mycoflora Project.

In today’s Mycology in the Molecular Age it is more important than ever to be able to be able to access mycological literature. With names changing so fast, access to current literature becomes important to know if a new species name is really something new or if the name change was the result of some type of DNA study. Places to obtain both classical and modern books, journals, and thesis will be discussed. Examples of why they are needed and how they can be used will be addressed.  

BONUS!  Several PDF download links on where to get things will be shown.

Fungal museum specimens provide verifiable evidence that a species existed in a specific place and time.Thus, they are becoming all the more important as scientists push to study ecological and evolutionarychange of this understudied kingdom.

Fungi forays offer magnificent opportunities for citizen scientists and mushroom enthusiasts to set out and collect fungi specimens that can be added to museum collections and be used for research. However, the amount and quality of data associated with a specimen is often the limiting factor that determines what research questions can be pursued. All the more, we cannot predict future research questions and therefore must improve our efforts to arm scientists of the 22nd century with data rich specimens.

Here I provide a training on how to use the iNaturalist smart phone application as a way to empower foray participants with minimal training to collect data rich specimens.

Join Daniel for a presentation on the Research Station, an off-the-grid research center located on an EPA-designated brownfield site turned ecological park in Austin Texas. Come learn about the cooperative efforts between Myco Alliance and a network of dedicated volunteers to promote citizen science research and enhance our understanding of the ecological and commercial value of fungi in Central Texas. The Research Station is operated and maintained within the Circle Acres Nature Preserve and is fundamental to Myco Alliance’s work by providing the space to host educational activities and facilitate mycelium production, mushroom cultivation, and cutting-edge mycological research.

The Plan: a fungal NGO gets mycologists to agree on pre-school to high school mycology contents; we design the pages for the governments; whatever language you want; we (YOU) make your country slot them into formal school curricula. One whole school cycle and we’re at a better place. This is just the beginning!