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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2005)
Paco shivers with a blanket on his shoulders, recovering from an ill-fated attempt to float 200 pounds of mushrooms down the river on an air mattress. It seemed like a good idea at the time. They were picking near the river, and floating beats walking. But Paco hit a submerged log and spilled himself and his precious load. Accident notwithstanding, the team still loads several hundred pounds of mushrooms into their van. They drive into Tok to cash in, leaving me to scheme a way to realize my dream: to go picking with the Mexicans. ARI LEVAUX to site, success at morel picking requires the The core of the Mexicans’ success, how- ability to adapt. ever, is simply the ability and willingness to David Arora, a renowned mycologist and walk farther than anybody else. While most writer from Santa Cruz with connections to pickers try to keep their rigs hidden from the OSU, is the author of Mushrooms road to hide their patch, the Mexicans pull Demystified, widely considered the bible of their red van onto the gravel shoulder in a wild mushrooms. Arora is the first to admit brazen cloud, and leave it there for all to see. that migrant pickers like the Red Van Crew Anyone who sees that van knows there can outpick experts like him: are mushrooms back there — way back there. “They are quintessential outsiders: figura- Farther than anyone else will walk. tively, because they stand outside the main- Hell, they’ll even tell you where they’re stream, and literally, because they spend most going. They truly don’t care if you know. of their waking existence outdoors. They are “We walk ’til we find a big patch,” explains the latest (some say the last) incarnation of a wandering community as ancient as humanity itself — one that is nature-immersed and moves with the seasons … Knowledge is acquired through days spent in the woods and is communicated orally … trust and cama- raderie are cemented and sustained through the exchange of nature — the buying, selling, and barter- ing of mushrooms — and just as importantly, from the exchange of stories about nature and mushrooms.” You won’t find a shred of Gore-Tex or Capilene on the The Red Van Crew poses backs of most pro pickers, or along Taylor Highway. of buyers; if another buyer offers more, they’ll sell to him. Southard lives in constant fear that another buyer will bribe, charm or otherwise compel the Mexicans to switch. Pickers compete for habitat, but buyers com- pete for pickers. Further behind the scenes, the mushroom companies like Alpine Foragers Exchange and S&K Holdings that hire the buyers have their eyes on all the global hotspots produc- ing morels. There are many productive burns in Canada’s Yukon, for example, and the quantities coming out of Canada — or Turkey, or India — help deter- mine the price brokers author- ize their buyers to pay for morels in Alaska. Each day I push farther into the thick bush. I don’t know if the mos- quitoes are afraid of me, or if I don’t notice them anymore, but they plummet from my list of concerns as I bring back more and more mushrooms. It’s addictive, this foraging for profit — an ancient, power- ful and intoxicating feeling. When your eyes adjust to morel-vision, it’s amazing how far away you can spot one, and how large they loom. You drop to your knees, one eye on the mushroom Of all the tools available to pickers, eyes and legs seem to be the most useful, along with the ability to forget what you used to know and learn quickly from scratch. a map, compass, or plant book among them. Yet they navigate the land comfortably and intimately. “How do you figure out if habitat is good?” I ask Francisco. “By looking at it,” he says. “It’s always changing,” he adds, after I roll my eyes. “First we were finding them in burnt-out black spruce forests. Then we started finding them in the needles below white spruce growing in half-burnt aspen forests. Then we started finding them all over the barely burned aspen groves — even in green moss. They’re always on slopes, though, usually south-facing.” Francisco. “Then we pick, load up and walk out. That’s it.” The terrain “accessible” from the Taylor Highway offers some of the toughest bush- whacking I’ve ever experienced, but I’m determined to pick like a Mexican. Each day I go deeper, across muskeg bogs, over downed timber, underneath burnt snags (wid- owmakers) that remain standing only by force of habit, waiting for the slightest excuse to fall on my head. After a day of picking, I return torn and filthy, humbled by the Mexicans’ cleanliness. We are on the bank of the Dennison Fork of the West Fork of the Fortymile River, which empties into the Yukon east of Eagle. Jay Southard is a buyer from Yamhill, Ore., who sets up next to the flea market in Tok. Southard’s setup consists of a canopied table with a digital scale. A line of propane dryers stands behind him, ready for his next purchase. Southard is known around Tok as “the Mexicans’ buyer.” I ask him if I can go picking with the Red Van Crew. Southard explains that the Red Van Crew belongs to no one. Even though Southard helped with their travel arrangements, found them cabins with kitchens and running water, secured their famous red van, and picked them up at the airport, he has no control over their decisions, he says, or even their choice Sustainable Harvest? Is commercial mushroom harvesting in Northwest forests sustainable and ecologically sound? Environmentalists argue both sides: Wild mushrooms add to the diversity and value of ancient forests, providing another argument against clear-cutting; but the uncontrolled harvesting of sensitive plants raises serious concerns about maintaining healthy forests. Research on the topic is sketchy due to the many variables that determine mushroom productivity, such as temperature, precipitation, fire and human activity. Creating study areas devoid of mushroom pickers is a challenge. And mushrooms themselves are astoundingly diverse and complex in their life cycles and their relationship to their environment. Below are some of the considerations that can be found in a brief survey of literature from the U.S., Canada and Europe on the subject: • A 10-year study on the effects of harvesting chanterelles by the Oregon Mycological Society (1995) found no decline in productiv- ity following harvesting, regardless of the picking method. However, chanterelles are typically cut at the base of the stem to keep them clean, leaving the mycellium or roots intact. • The same study documented con- cern for the picking of pine mush- rooms, which are preferred by buyers with stems intact. Some irresponsible pickers rake the forest floor to find the more valuable young fruit, damaging the mycellium in the process. you’re about to pick, the other scanning for its friends. When that one mushroom turns out to be the leading edge of a huge patch, you love your life. You never want to be any- where else. When you close your eyes to sleep, that patch comes back to haunt you on the backs of your eyelids. By day, the quest for unpicked habitat continues. Pickers partner with locals, renting their ATVs and hiring them as boat pilots in order to reach the innermost reaches of the burn. But there’s not enough turf to go around. A few pickers are successful, but most are barely covering their expenses. One morning, the red van pulls into my camp. It seems even the Red Van Crew has • Commercial mushroom pickers are notorious for leaving garbage and human waste at their campsites and resting areas scattered deep in wilderness areas. Direct impact? Unknown. • Tramping and compacting of mosses and other ground materials has been shown to reduce mush- room production, primarily through damaging young mushroom buds underground. • Destruction of fungi beds can damage trees, particularly Douglas firs. Mushrooms called micor- rhiza wrap themselves around tree roots and facilitate the transfer of nutrients from soil to the trees. Likewise, clear-cutting of forests can destroy fungi which are integral to the survival of thousands of plant and animal species. For more information on local mushroom harvesting, contact the Cascade Mycological Society (http://cascademyco.org) or the Pacific Northwest Research Station in Corvallis (www.fs.fed.us/pnw), or read Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora, Ten Speed Press. — Ted Taylor Yellow Chantrelle AUGUST 18, 2005 13
