Matsutake mushroom season is upon Oregon and residents can get permits starting September 4.
The highly sought after fungi can only grow in rare terrain and can be found in the Willamette, Umpqua and Deschutes national forests. A permit is required from the U.S. Forest Service to harvest mushrooms on national forest system lands.
Cheryl Kaplan from the Umpqua Forest Service says awareness of fire conditions is critical as fall mushroom traffic picks up.
“What’s also important, because we have a lot of wildfires still burning, long duration wildfires burning in and on national forests, is to check the fire public use restrictions before going out. We have a lot of firefighters around and we want to make sure they fight natural wildfires and not human caused fires.”
Kaplan advises those hunting the mushroom to be gentle with soil and avoid destructive gathering techniques like raking. This year’s season will run to November 4.
