AMS Foray

Date: To Be Announced

Time:

Location: Baldwin County Heritage Museum 25521 US Hwy. 98 Elberta, AL 36530

# AMS Monthly Mushroom Foray

Experienced mushroom hunters come explore the grounds and see what you find. The focus for this foray is on helping new foragers learn the steps leading to a successful identification.

If you new to foraging, plan your beginning with the end in sight. Read the AMS materials before you arrive if you have time. If not they will be available when you arrive.

As a group, we will attempt to first take good photographs of the mushroom, then collect the entire mushroom, roots and all, filling out a provided AMS Field Data Sheet as we go.

Next we will show how to set up a spore print and take additional supporting photographs as required. A dehydrator will be on hand to begin drying any specimens that will be sent for dna analysis.

A microscope and other resources such as chemical reagents will be available to help determine and document the mushroom specimen's characteristics.

There will be volunteers available to assist in this process, but the real identification will be determined when the dna analysis is returned.

If you do not have an iNaturalist account, it would be good idea to set one up before you arrive. Actually, this is good idea, regardless, but the tracking throughout the dna process is done through a specimen or observation as iNaturalist calls them, id number that is assigned to your specimen when you upload the first picture.

You then are able to write this number down on the field observation slip that will be linked to your observation from now on.