Our Rocky Mountain National Park mycoblitz website is officially launched. [The website includes] all the details about the weekend and the registration form.

On 6 February, 2008, Rob introduced the RMNP MycoBlitz:

The Colorado Mycological Society has obtained a research permit from the park service to organize a mycoblitz in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) on August 23th and 24th, 2008. A mycoblitz is when a group of people get together for a short period of time and focus on identifying the mushrooms in a given area. This is a very exciting opportunity for mushroom collecting in the Rocky Mountains - as collecting mushrooms in our National Park system is typically illegal. Additionally, macrofungi have not been systematically studied in RMNP and our efforts will be the first to document fungi in the park. This event has great potential but will only be successful with ample help from club members and good organization.

This event will be free and open to the public, and will also consist of mushroom workshops - so everyone will be able to learn throughout the weekend. We have also obtained funds to fly in an expert mycologist to serve as the chief identifier, although we are still working on confirming this person. Best of all, this event is 100% free to participants, and collectors will even receive free camping in RMNP - they just have to contact me so I can get the appropriate number of permits.

This is a huge undertaking to organize; If you, your organization, or your club members are interested and able to help or assist in any way (in terms of organizing or collecting), please contact me. I'd like to make the mycoblitz as successful as possible.

On March 11, Rob forwarded his President’s Note from CMS newsletter, Spores Afield:

As I mentioned last month, this column will be devoted to the 2008 Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) mycoblitz. The mycoblitz is a scientific endeavor, not a typical mushroom foray where we collect mushrooms to take home and eat. The purpose of this mycoblitz is to collect, identify, and begin an inventory of mushrooms that grow in RMNP. Examples of all species that are collected will be housed in the Denver Botanical Gardens Herbarium of Fungi. In this column, I’ll explain why it is important for the club and explain the details of the weekend.

We will meet at the research station in the park at 9 AM each on Saturday August 23rd and Sunday August 24th. First, I’ll give a 15 minute introduction, and distribute wax paper bags and collection tags for the mushrooms. Then we’ll assemble into groups of 10. Each group will be led by a knowledgeable CMS member and each will be sent out to a different part of the park. I met with park officials a few weeks ago to pick out locations that target a diverse set of mushroom habitats – we have some great habitat picked out. The more people we have, the more groups we have, the more sites we can hunt, and the more mushrooms we’ll find. Participation is not restricted to CMS members, so be sure to invite a friend along.

Each group will have a number of responsibilities. Each group will bring back a single collection of each species they encounter. A collection will consist of a few specimens of a single genus in a variety of developmental stages, is possible. A collection tag will be filled out and placed in a bag with each species, and necessary information will include which location they went to, the approximate elevation, habitat, nearly trees, etc. Between 1 and 2 PM, groups will meet back at the research station for identification. We will fly in an expert to serve as the chief identifier, and identification will be similar to how to do it at our mushroom fair: mushrooms will be sorted, identified, documented, and finally packaged for the herbarium. To finish off the day, we will have a round-table discussion of the mushrooms we find - the mycoblitz will also be a learning experience.

The park has offered collectors free camping on Friday and/or Saturday night. You are encouraged to participate both days, or even drive up and camp over on Friday night if you’d like. I will have to provide the park with the names of those wishing to participate in the mycoblitz and the license plates of the vehicles that will be in the park that weekend. I don’t have to provide this list until the beginning of August. In June, I will begin to make a list of members who are interested in participating.

This is a great opportunity for you to participate in the scientific collection of mushrooms, and a great way to learn new mushrooms. This is a very exciting event for CMS. It will not be successful without ample participation from the club, so I hope you can join us.

Thank you,

rob.hallock@uchsc.edu
voice: 303-724-3433
  fax: 303-724-3420