Event
Sixteenth Annual Fungus Fair Collecting Foray - CANCELLED
Fee:
Free.Location: LAT/LONG: 38.000000, -123.000000
Bear Valley Visitor Center
Dates & Times
Date:
Time:
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Description
Cancelled
"Due to exponential increase of Covid-19 cases from a new variant, we are regretfully cancelling the 16th annual Point Reyes National Seashore Fungus Fair. It just doesn't seem safe at this time." - Bay Area Mycological Society
Join a mushroom foray on Saturday, January 8, 2022.
This is a collecting event for the Fungus Fair, which will be held the following day, not a guided foray. Be prepared to learn, and be prepared to participate! As always, this is a free event, open to all.
10 am: Park visitors and the mushroom curious are invited to gather at 10 am on Saturday, January 8, 2022, (rain or shine) at the Bear Valley Visitor Center for instructions on how to collect fungi for Sunday's Fungus Fair. Bring bags or buckets or baskets and ways to keep collections separate (paper or wax-tex works best). A pocket knife or trowel can help you to get entire mushrooms. Please document your collections, by noting habitat and location. Collecting labels will be provided. We cannot promise guided forays, and this is NOT about collecting edibles. In fact, we'd like to see any mushrooms, edible or not, donated for displays in our Fair. Experienced collectors are welcome to go out on their own at any time—just be sure and bring your collections to the Red Barn before 2 pm.
Noon to 2 pm: Bring your mushrooms to the Red Barn. We will ID your finds, and select the most beautiful and interesting and unusual examples for our Fair the next day.
Then on Sunday, January 9, 2022, please attend the Sixteenth Annual Point Reyes National Seashore Fungus Fair from 10 am to 4 pm at the Bear Valley Visitor Center.
Contact David Rust by email or call 510-468-5014 for more details. Park visitors and local residents are welcome to participate!
Precautions Due to COVID
Due to continuing COVID restrictions, the Bay Area Mycological Society (BAMS) and Point Reyes National Seashore are having a somewhat modified Fungus Fair in 2022.
Following the latest science and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Park Service (NPS) requires visitors, employees, and contractors to wear a mask inside all NPS buildings and in crowded outdoor spaces, regardless of vaccination status or community transmission levels.
Please continue to practice physical (aka, social) distancing consistent with CDC guidance in all locations. Put six feet of distance between yourself and people who don't live in your household. Some people without symptoms may be able to spread virus.
Directions
For directions and a map to help you get to the Bear Valley Visitor Center, visit our Directions page.
Parking
To help reduce traffic congestion in the paved parking lot adjacent to the Bear Valley Visitor Center, please park your vehicle(s) in the gravel, trailhead/picnic area parking lot on the left (east) side of the access road close to the Bear Valley Trailhead. Parking is free. Download the Bear Valley Area Map (504 KB PDF), which shows the location of the trailhead parking lot relative to the Bear Valley Visitor Center.
More information...
Go to the Bay Area Mycological Society's (BAMS) web site or contact the Bay Area Mycological Society or David Rust 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.
Guidelines for Mushroom Collecting
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.
Mushroom Poisonings
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.
Sponsors
The Fungus Fair and Collecting Foray are sponsored by the Bay Area Mycological Society and Point Reyes National Seashore.
More information
Reservation or Registration: No
Image Gallery
NPS / Debbie Veiss
NPS Photo