2026 SVIMS Spring Outing to Metchosin Wilderness Park

SVIMS members made a spring foray to Metchosin Wilderness Park on February 7, 2026, as a followup to Paul Kroeger’s annual talk. A group of 25 fungal fans, a few of them on their first SVIMS foray, spent two hours chasing down examples of spring fungi.

Paul Kroeger, Andy MacKinnon, and Kem Luther were walk leaders. Foray coordinator Caroline Pap did the check-in, check-out.

The focus was on collecting specimens for the BC MycoMap Project. Some of the collected specimens can be viewed on iNaturalist. 

(Click on the pictures below to see the associated iNaturalist observations.)

Members survey the bounty on a boulder--Kem pretends he has a clue.
Tremellodendropsis tuberosa, Ashen Coral. Photo by Roanan De Meyer
Geoglossum, Earthtongue. Photo by Roanan De Meyer

Mushroom Cultivation Workshop Spring 2026

Spring 2026 Cultivation Workshop

with local expert Steve Fischer

March 1, 2026

Two workshop times available (please only register for one):

     – Morning workshop: 9:00am – 12:00 noon

     – Afternoon workshop: 1:00pm – 4:00pm

  • All materials provided; donations accepted (proceeds go to SVIMS)

  • Blenkinsop & McKenzie area, specific location TBA to registrants

  • Members who have not taken a cultivation workshop with SVIMS before will be prioritized

  • ACTIVE SVIMS members only

Sign up Cultivation Workshop
Steve drills a bale, Elora watches

Andrew Claassen Presentation on March 5, 2026

The next SVIMS meeting.
Pacific Forestry Centre,
March 5, 7:00 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm)

Andrew Claassen is a mycologist, naturalist, forest ecologist, educator, musician, and public speaker based in Northern California. Claassen is known for his expertise in identifying and studying California mushrooms. He has contributed significantly to understanding North American fungal species through documenting, collecting, discovering, and researching mushrooms in the region’s diverse habitats, particularly through work on montane and coastal wetland habitats.

He is a co-founder and vice president of the Mount Shasta Mycological Society and was formerly a collection specialist for the FunDis (North American Fungal Diversity Survey) California Project. He is now is operating as a collection specialist for Mycota Lab and Shasta Spore Lab.

Claassen maintains an active presence in the mycological community through the iNaturalist and social media platforms where he shares his work.

Talk Description: Join mycologist Andrew Claassen for an in-depth exploration of one of mycology’s most fascinating frontiers: the specialized fungi that inhabit water-scarce and transitional moisture environments. This presentation delves into the remarkable world of seeps, springs, meadows, and bogs, where unique fungal communities have evolved extraordinary adaptations to survive in conditions that challenge conventional understanding of fungal habitat requirements. This presentation offers both experienced foragers and research focused mycologists an opportunity to expand their understanding of habitat ecology, trophic cycling, substrate chemistry, mycorrhizal networks, and the effect of specialized fungi on ecosystem health.

BC MycoMap Project–First Results

SVIMS is a sponsor of the BC MycoMap Project. Launched last fall, the project aims to bring our understanding of mushroom genomes in BC into the modern age. Crowdsourced databanks show that BC, up to the fall of 2025, had sequenced fewer than a thousand BC specimens for these public data sources. This represents only a few percent of the numbers from south of the border. 
 
The first step in the project was to find a place to get BC fungal barcodes affordably sequenced. A partnership was set up with Mycota Lab in Michigan, and funds were raised to make the partnership possible. The second step was to collect specimens of BC mushrooms, with an emphasis on variety. Over a hundred BC mycoenthusiasts help to collect, dry, and submit these specimens. A remarkable 12,000 vouchers were assembled. These are being sent to Michigan in batches. (The collection project is ongoing, for those who want to help.)

 

Mycota Lab was able to rapidly sequence a first batch of several hundreds specimens. A group of BC “validators” (currently five people) began to examine and classify these sequences. In the second week of January 2026, the first 100+ sequences for MycoMap BC were posted to iNaturalist, along with their identifications. The observations can be browsed through this link.  More are being added almost daily.
 
If you’re interested in learning more about these results and how they’re determined (what might be called “the back end of BC MycoMap”), you can join a Zoom talk on January 23rd. Here is the link to register.