Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria)

The 7th annual Point Reyes National Seashore Fungus Fair is scheduled for Sunday, January 8, 2012.

The Fungus Fair is an opportunity to learn about the fungi gathered by more than 100 volunteers who are helping to collect, identify and catalog the species of mushrooms at the Point Reyes National Seashore. Amateur mycologists will be on hand to talk about mushrooms, their role in the environment, and more!

For the 2011-2012 winter season, the Bay Area Mycological Society's Point Reyes Fungus Fair will be held on Sunday, January 8, 2011. Mushrooms and fungus will be on display at the Bear Valley Visitor Center and visitors are invited to attend free lectures presented by David Rust and Debbie Viess.

Schedule of Speakers

• 12:00 p.m. "Introduction to Wild and Edible Mushrooms" by David Rust
• 2:00 p.m. "Zen and the Art of Mushroom Hunting" by Debbie Viess

Visitors are also welcome to help collect for the fair on local mushroom walks on Saturday, January 7th. Meet at the Bear Valley Visitor Center at 10:00 a.m. Bring your finds to the Bear Valley Visitor Center auditorium at 1:00 p.m. for identification. Park visitors and local residents are welcome to participate!

Download the Seventh Annual Fungus Fair Flyer (94 KB PDF

Go to the Bay Area Mycological Society's (BAMS) web site or contact the Bay Area Mycological Society, David Rust or Ben Becker for more details about the Point Reyes Fungus Fair. For more information about mushrooms at the Point Reyes National Seashore, visit our Mushrooms and other Fungi page. For directions and a map, visit our Directions page.

There are specific legal guidelines for mushroom collecting. Please visit the Collecting section on the Park Regulations page.

Please note: employee housing as well as park administrative, maintenance, operations, and storage facilities, including, but not limited, to access roads, outbuildings, grounds, and docks, are closed to public use.

No mushroom should be eaten unless it can first be positively identified as edible. Learning to identify mushrooms in their many guises takes time, and reliable resources. The best way to learn about mushrooms is through local field guides and mushroom societies. Visit the Bay Area Mycological Society's Mushroom Poisonings page for more information on identifying the three most deadly mushrooms in California.

The Mycoblitz, which has been discontinued, was part of a major multi-year effort to document the fungi at Point Reyes. This event usually occurred at least once every winter and participants searched for mushrooms and fungi in Point Reyes for a few hours, and then reconvened to show what they found and to see what others discovered. The last Mycoblitz was held in 2007.

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