More than just mushrooms: foragers head into Labrador woods for fungi research

A group of foragers hasheaded into the forest in Happy Valley-Goose Bay this weekend,hoping to learn more about localfungaland lichenpopulations.

Experts with Foray Newfoundland and Labrador, along with 40 to 50 volunteers, are picking an inventory of lichens and fungi as part of the group's annual public haul for biodiversity studies.

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"Our aim is to try and get a handle on what species grow in the province and what their distribution is," MichaelBurzynski,a botanist who joinedParks Canada in western Newfoundland in 1987,told the St. John's Morning Show.

The forays move to different locations around the province, scouring the land in each spot and studying species diversity in different ecosystems.

"We usually stay a year or two in each place," he said. "We never get everything while we're there."

Busy hands pick many mushrooms

Since 2003, the group has gathered approximately 10,000 samples for its collection, known as a "fungal herbarium."

The fungi and lichens are dried and sealed in plastic bags, so rehydration cannot occur. They tag the bags with information on where a sample wascollected and by whom.

Each year, the team iscontacted by researchers looking for portions of the samples, who use them to figure out a wide range of problems involving those species.

This weekend, the foray will involve experts from Puerto Rico, Quebec and Ontario.

In the past, experts have come from Estonia, Sweden, Norwayand particularlyFinland.

"It's really quite astonishing where our experts come from," Burzynski said.

Picking a mushroom meal, the safe way

The group's weekend in the woods will include a delve into the world of edible mushrooms but not the trippy kind.

Saturday will feature a meal of various mushrooms they've picked throughout the year, while Sunday will see the group forage for its food.

"It's usually a short field trip where we take a number of people out and see what we can find," Burzynski said.

"And again, (see) what diversity of edible mushrooms is available and talk a little about how you can cook them and how to distinguish them from the more dangerous ones."