By Deb Shankland
Close to 20 participants, some OMS members, some Cleveland Metroparks visitors, enjoyed a nice, warm summer day for this foray. Unfortunately, this was about the 12th warm, dry summer day in a row, limiting our species count. On the other hand, everyone got a good, close look at all the specimens, and were able to absorb explanations of ID features for the mushrooms found without being overwhelmed.
In addition to learning more about mushrooms, their roles in the environment, and collection techniques, information about OMS and other upcoming Cleveland Metroparks-sponsored mushroom programs was shared.
Foray leader Debra Shankland thanks OMS members Laura Wilson, Bryan Lewis, and Stefanie Verish for their ID skills and other assistance.
See link below for a species list along with a foray list from a soggier (but less well-attended) West Creek foray in 2006 for comparison. The eastern portion of West Creek Reservation was surveyed in both of these forays.
West Creek Reservation Summer Mushroom Foray Species List
Thank you for all who helped make my first foray fun and informative. I found a link to the book that Deb had with her online so I thought I would share it with everyone. http://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/gtr/gtr_nrs79.pdf See you at the next foray on Sunday!