SVIMS
South Vancouver Island Mycological Society
Cowichan Lake Foray Registration 2022
COWICHAN LAKE FORAY – 2022
OCTOBER 21 – 23, 2022
August 25, 2022
This much anticipated annual event is being held at the Cowichan Lake Education Centre (CLEC). This is the same location as the 2021 Foray.
The Foray format allows participants to register for either the full weekend of activities or participate only on the Saturday. The Foray participants (in small groups) will be lead by mycological experts through the forests and varying terrains of the Cowichan Valley. These groups will forage and collect a variety of fungi and return them to the CLEC site for further analysis and identification. In 2021 over 115 different species were identified.
The Foray focuses on both novice and knowledgeable mushroom foragers.
More specific information about CLEC and the Foray, including the registration form and fees can be found under “Docs” in the SVIMS home page. Click on “Docs” and then on “Cowichan Foray 2022 Information” and “Cowichan Foray 2022 Registration Form”.
Space is limited and unfortunately we had to turn away some hopeful participants last year. So register early.
If you have any questions please contact Kurt Raeder at svims.treasurer@gmail.com
April/June 2022 NAMA Mycophile available
SVIMS is a member of The North American Mycological Association (NAMA), the collective that unites the mycological societies on this continent. Four to six times a year NAMA publishes its newsletter, the Mycophile, and makes it available to members of all supporting clubs. The April-June issue is available. To read it, click or tap on the picture of the cover.
Photographing Fungi
Alan Franck has some good suggestions for what should be photographed if you want to have help with mushroom identification. Posted on the FUNDIS blog.
Funky Fungi
Children’s educator and songwriter Rosie Emery recently released a song, Funky Fungi. She was inspired by some recent books on mycorrhizal fungi.
May 2022 SVIMS outing to Metchosin Wilderness Park
The last of the SVIMS 2022 spring mushroom forays took place on May 28. SVIMS members assembled at the Clapham Road entrance to Metchosin Wilderness Park (see picture below) and spent two hours in a misty rain looking for fungal fructifications. The searchers were successful–the group found about three dozen different species, the highest daily total of the four spring forays.
The day’s inventory can be viewed on iNaturalist. The picture above is the iNaturalist mapping of the species sightings.
The biggest surprise was coming across several mushrooms more commonly associated with late summer and autumn, such as a Two-Coloured Laccaria (Laccaria bicolor) , an Orange Milk Cap (Lactarius cf luculentus), a young Hebeloma (perhaps Hebeloma mesophaeum), and what was interpreted to be a Clitocybe gibba.
Several of the species found on this foray were the same ones found the week before at the Blinkhorn Lake survey. The Spring Scalecap (Kuehneromyces lignicola) and the Common Cudonia (Cudonia circinans), however, were new and fun finds.
Leaders for this foray were Shannon Berch, Andy MacKinnon, and Bryce Kendrick. Kem Luther (better known, when he is with Andy, as “the adult in the room”) did the recording.
