Eldorado Rescinds Collecting Regulations!

And Other Collecting Policy Updates

By Mark Norton


This spring promises to be a happier than usual morel season due to the removal of regulations on collecting! MSSF members will remember that in the spring of 1993, after the Cleveland Fire had burned a large area around Icehouse Reservoir the Eldorado National Forest (ENF) established a policy for the collection of morels that was restrictive and expensive, where no regulations had existed before. In its original form this policy proposed to charge collectors one dollar per pound of morels collected, although this proposal, before being issued, was altered to a flat $20 fee for up to 50 lbs. of morels, and required collectors to use tags in 5 lb. denominations, to be attached to lots of mushrooms collected.

This policy has now been rescinded. The memo issued on April 16 by the ENF states, “Harvest of mushrooms for personal use will not be regulated and will not require the use of a permit or the payment of a fee.” It further states that “Personal use is defined as the amount and type that would be used by an individual or group for their own use and not for sale.” It also states that “a policy regulating the commercial harvest of mushrooms will be developed at a later date after further public scoping and involvement”, which means that, at this time, the commercial collecting of mushrooms is not permitted in the ENF, (the regulations which have been rescinded did not allow for commercial collection either.)

Mike Foster, a staff biologist for the ENF, pointed out that, in the event of another large fire, new regulations would perhaps be implemented, although he hastened to add that it was unlikely that they would be as restrictive as the 1993 regulations.

Our struggle over collecting regulations on the ENF has been one of the longest in which the MSSF has been involved, and we have been assisted in achieving this positive resolution by outside occurrences. In the period since 1993, the US Forest Service has developed 3 national level strategic plans to which our Collecting Policies Committee has provided input, including a National Strategic Plan for Special Forest Product Resources. Due in part to our club’s input, and input we solicited from other clubs across the country, this plan contains specific wording requiring forest managers to “respect the traditional, cultural, and spiritual values of all cultural groups in managing species that may be of commercial value.”

Also, the ENF has been caught up in a scandal involving illegal timber sales. A front page article in the Feb. 28, 1996 San Francisco Chronicle described sales which were made without proper environmental impact statements. When the sales had to be canceled after federal investigators looked into the matter, one of the timber companies filed suit for $4.5 million, and the others are awaiting this suit’s outcome before filing their own. According to the Chronicle article, taxpayers could have to pay up to $30 million to settle these suits! Obviously, ENF officials didn’t want to risk coming under fire once again for something as relatively insignificant as mushrooms.

In other areas, regulations set up last spring for morel collection on the Cottonwood Fire in the Tahoe National Forest arrived too late for inclusion in last May’s Mycena News, but we were able to negotiate for permits to be issued free of charge. This should be good for this season as well, although forest managers initially considered a more restrictive policy.

Collecting regulations remain in limbo for the Presidio. The Advisory Commission for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) determined that collecting would be allowed in selected sites in the Presidio, but at this point it remains unclear whether the GGNRA will in fact retain control of the Presidio. The last bill regarding the Presidio failed to pass in congress and a new one hasn’t yet been put forward. Meanwhile, National Park Service officials in Washington remain undecided whether the regulatory package being put forward will include a code change disallowing mushroom collecting in ALL National Parks, although at last contact they were beginning to lean away from so drastic a step.

In closing, another positive note: although a final decision hasn’t yet reached us in writing, it appears that at least one Marin County State Park is going to be reopened to collecting, probably Tomales Bay State Park. In 1991, when we managed to get Salt Point State Park reopened to collecting, our efforts to get Tomales Bay reopened were unsuccessful. But now it appears that park officials are ready to reopen this park. We’ll update this and other information as it becomes available.

In our efforts to find legal collecting areas, personal contacts remain our most effective tool. If you personally know any staff or board members in local park or water districts, you may be able to help us. Please contact Mark Norton at 415-668-5237, or Larry Stickney at 510-465-7963 if you can help.


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