The Clackamas print., November 09, 2005, Page 4, Image 4

4 Feature
Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005
Clackamas P
The wild world
The mycology class
hits the forest in search
of rarefitngi
Sam Krause
I CJ Ciaramella
The Clackamas Print
“This is not a harvest,” said
mycology teacher Bob Misley.
“It’s an educational opportu­
nity.”
Misley was speaking to his
mycology class, which studies
all things mushroom related,
before they embarked on a hike
in the Mount Hood National
Forest near Ripplebrook. The
choice of words reflected both
the limitations placed on har­
vesting by the Oregon Forest
Service and the philosophy of
picking.
Misley told his class not to
overpick, “so we don’t wipe
out the population, and they
don’t come back.”
The students worked their
way down the trail for most
of the day, occasionally tak­
ing brief forays into the damp
undergrowth to search for
mushrooms. The best,finds are
always off the beaten track,
hidden in gullies or underneath
rotting logs.
Many students were search­
ing for edible mushrooms,
specifically white and yellow
chanterelle, which are highly
prized for their taste and tex­
ture. Also on the list, althoagh
none were found, was the mat-
sutaki mushroom, an expen­
sive delicacy only native to the
Northwest.
While many may snicker
when they think of eating
mushrooms,- the students of
Misley’s class had more on
their minds than those types of
mushrooms.
“I don’t want to die,” said
student Blaine Moody. “I don’t
want to get sick. I don’t want
to get high. I just want to eat
'em."
Fairy Mills had similar sen­
timents, saying she just wanted
“to find edibles.” .
Student Sebastian Immel
chimed in as well:
“I have a genuine interest
in the field of mycology,” he
said. “I think it’s incredibly
cool that you can go out in the
forest, pick some mushrooms,
take them home, cook them
and eat them.”
Another student, Ruth
Hazen, said, “I thought mush­
rooms were just so interesting,
and I saw the class; I just had
to take it.”
Misley himself was one of
the biggest fans of edible mush­
rooms. He admitted, though,
that first you have to “get over
the gross factor,” specifical­
ly when ’ dealing mushrooms,
because sometimes they may
be infested with insects. To
the naysayers, however, he had
this to say:
“I’m going to marinate a big
Portobello mushroom, slice
and grill it, and you’re going
to think you’re eating steak.”
Besides edible mushrooms,
the class was also on the
lookout for rare and unusual
mushrooms, specifically of the
mycorrhizal category.
“Mycorrhizal,”
which
Misely said is the “word for
the class,” describes a cat­
egory of mushrooms that are
impossible to grow outside of
their natural habitat, because
scientists still cannot replicate
the complex forest environ­
ment they depend on to grow.
“We have more questions
than we have answers,” said
Misley, speaking of how the
mycorrhizal mushrooms inter­
acted with the forest floor.
At the end of the day, the
class reconvened at the trail-
head to examine each other’s
finds. The mushrooms were
laid out oh a picnic table for
all to see, and Misley pointed
out the choice specimens of
the trip. Highlights included a
huge lobster mushroom, a king
bolete and several white chan­
terelle, which are more scarce
than their yellow counterparts.
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(Left) Bob Misley, in the hat, discusses a find with student
Blaine Moody. (Above) Happy hunter Kevin Nash shows off
two choice chanterelle mushrooms. (Below) Students dis­
played their favorite finds at the end of the day. (Bottom)
Sebastian Immel holds up the cross-section of a king bolete
Photos by CJ Ciaramella and Sam Krause Clackamas m