nama 2016 - north american mycological …growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms robinson lower...

NAMA 2016

September 8-11 – Front Royal, Virginia

NORTH AMERICAN MYCOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION SHENANDOAH FORAY

SEPTEMBER 9-11, 2016

We’re all here to have a good time, but please respect these things:

Wear your nametag at all times. It’s your admission to all events and

meals.

Be prompt for all lectures, workshops, and field trips.

Sign in and out for all field trips.

No pets or firearms on 4-H grounds, and no smoking in buildings.

Don’t get lost!

Lost and found. The lost and found is at the registration table in the

Conference Center lobby.

Supplies. Front Royal has several grocery stores. The closest are Food Lion

and Martin’s, which are both about 4.5 miles away. From Harmony Hollow

Road (604), turn left on 522 to go toward town.

The Food Lion will be on the right as you come into town. There’s a

CVS Pharmacy in the same shopping center.

Martin’s is around the corner: turn left on South St. (55) at the light

just after the Food Lion. Then turn left again into the Royal Plaza

shopping center.

Meals. All meals will be served in the dining hall.

Breakfast is from 7:30-8:30.

Lunch is from 12:00-1:00.

Dinner is from 5:30-6:30 (6:30-7:30 on Wed).

If you are going on an all-day foray, the 4-H Center will provide a box lunch.

For an emergency, call 911.

4-H Center: (540) 635-7171

Bruce Boyer: (703) 863-9633

Connie Durnan: (202) 669-5740

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The Mycological Association of Washington and the New River Valley

Mushroom Club would like to welcome you to NAMA’s 2016 Shenandoah

Foray. Shenandoah National Park is a beloved spot for our members. We’re

so happy to share it with you.

The Shenandoah landscape has an ancient history. Once taller than the

Rockies, the Shenandoah Mountains have eroded over millennia into the

gently undulating slopes you see today. Some of the rocks you’ll see exposed

here may be a billion years old.

Shenandoah also has a rich human history. For 150 years before the creation

of the park, European settlers were farming in the area. You may see the rock

walls that they built, and walk on their paths. For thousands of years before

that, Native Americans visited the area to hunt and gather in the summer, and

to make their stone tools. Some of the paths we walk may be their paths as

well.

Many visitors to the park learn about these different layers of park history.

Fewer learn about the layer that we’ll be exploring on this foray: the world

that lies hidden beneath our feet. Fungi are part of what make Shenandoah

National Park possible, sharing nutrients to help trees grow and breaking

down the wood when trees fall. In lichens, they are clinging to nearly every

rock surface, continuing to shape the mountains for generations to come.

We’re excited about the partnership that we’ve formed with the park to treat

our foray field trips as a fungal Bioblitz. We learn so much as individuals at

NAMA forays. This year, we’ll be helping the park learn, too.

-- the Shenandoah Foray Committee

Bruce Boyer, planning coordinator

Becky Rader, logistics coordinator

Connie Durnan, registrar

Martin Livezey, program coordinator

William Needham, field trip coordinator

Tony Airaghi, treasurer

Elizabeth Hargrave, publicity coordinator

Cody Waisanen, socials coordinator



If there are changes to this schedule, they will be posted in the Conference

Center foyer and at the dining hall.

7:30-8:30 BREAKFAST - Dining Hall – Early Arrivals only

8:30-12:00 Trustees Meeting

Conference Center lower level – Meeting room

Informal

field trip

leaving at

9:00

Meet between Robinson

and Dining Hall

at 8:45

12:00-1:00 LUNCH - Dining Hall-- Early Arrivals only

1:00-1:30 Break Workshop:

Susan Hopkins

Mushroom

Dyeing

Fairfax Shelter

Informal

field trip

leaving at

1:00


and Dining Hall

at 12:45

1:30-3:30 Graduate Student Presentations

Rachel Koch

Daniel Raudabaugh

Jessie Uehling

Jorge Diaz-Valderrama

Conference Center auditorium

3:30-4:00 Break

4:00-4:30 Mycoflora Committee Meeting

Conference Center lower level – Meeting room

4:30-5:30 Break

5:30-6:30 DINNER - Dining Hall

7:00-9:00 Evening Program – Conference center auditorium

Welcome

Tribute to Herb Pohl

Finds of the Day

Wendy Cass – Shenandoah National Park

Roy Halling – Fungi Down Under: Sand, Gum Trees, and Porcini

9:00-10:30 SOCIAL – Robinson Lodge

HOSTED BY THE MYCOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON AND

THE NEW RIVER VALLEY MUSHROOM CLUB

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7:30-8:30 BREAKFAST - Dining Hall Yoga (7:00-8:00) – Dining Terrace

8:30-10:30 Arleen Bessette

Coming to Your

Senses: The Subtle Art

of Mushroom ID

Robinson lower level

Michael

Castellano

Behold the

Beauty and

Diversity of

Truffles in

Eastern North

America

Talk in Conference

Center auditorium

followed by truffle hunting on 4H grounds

Field trips

leaving at

9:00

All-day:

#1

Half-day:

#2, #3


and Dining Hall

at 8:45

10:30-10:45 Break

10:45-11:45 Mark Jones

Growing

Gourmet and

Medicinal

Mushrooms


Brian Looney

Sorting Out

the Red

Russulas of

North America

Conf. Center auditorium

Debbie Viess

Amanita

Toxins: Deep

Analysis and

Myth-Busting

Conf. Center lower level

12:00-1:00 LUNCH - Dining Hall

1:00-1:30 Break Field trips

leaving at

1:00

Half-day:

#4, #5


and Dining Hall

at 12:45

1:30-2:30 Ryan Kepler

Insect Pathogenic

Fungi of the

Appalachians


Rod Tulloss

Recent Research in

Amanita


Workshop:

Shannon Nix

Introduction

to Fungal

Microscopy

(pre-

registration

required)

Conference Center lower

level:

Microscopy room

2:30-3:00 Break

3:00-4:00 Tradd Cotter

Mushroom Rescue

Modules – Mushroom

Production, Water

Filtration, and

Mosquito Abatement


Gary Lincoff

Amateurs Can Make a

Difference: Developing a

Mushroom Survey in

Your Area


4:00-5:30 Break Yoga (4:00-5:00)

Dining Terrace


7:00-9:00 Evening Program – Conference Center auditorium

Finds of the Day

Raffle Winners

Update on Mycolflora and Herbarium Project – Barbara Thiers

Searching for Fungal Dinosaurs in Guyana’s Lost World – Dr. Catherine Aime





8:30-9:00 Break

9:00-10:00 Patrick Leacock

Name Changes:

200 Years of

Opinions


Jay Justice

Entolomoid

Mushrooms of

Eastern North

America


Workshop:

Denis

Benjamin

Mushrooms

in

Watercolor

(pre-

registration

required)

Dining Terrace

Workshop:

James

Lendemer

Lichen Field

Study in SNP

(Participants

must provide

their own

transportation

and entrance

fee to SNP)

Meet in Conference

Center foyer

Field trips

leaving at

9:00

All-day:

#6

Half-day:

#7, 8


and Dining Hall

at 8:45

10:00-10:30 Break

10:30-11:30 Conrad Schoch

Fungal Names

on Genbank


Dorothy Smullen

Fairy Rings &

Pinwheels:

The Genus

Marasmius


12:00-1:00 LUNCH - Dining Hall

1:00-1:30 Break Field trips

leaving at

1:00

Half-day:

#9, #10


and Dining Hall

at 12:45

1:30-2:30 Andy Methven

Appalachian

Species of

Lactarius


Rytas Vilgalys

Fungal Genetic

Diversity:

Barcodes,

Sequences, and

a Role for

NAMA


Workshop:

Denis

Benjamin

Mushrooms

in

Watercolor

(pre-

registration

required)

Dining Terrace

Workshop:

Rob and Ann

Simpson

Fungi, Fun,

and

Photography

Conference Center lower

level:

Meeting Room

2:30-3:00 Break

3:00-4:00 James Lendemer

Lichens of the

Smokies and

Shenandoah


Alan Bessette

Red-Capped,

Blue-Staining

Boletes


4:00-5:00 Cooking Demos /

Mycophagy

Fairfax Shelter

Bidding for the Silent

Auction Closes at 5:00!

Robinson Lower Level

Yoga (4:00-5:00)

Dining Terrace

5:00-5:30



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7:00-9:00 Evening Program – Conference Center auditorium

Finds of the Day

Photo Contest Results

Award Announcements

President’s Address – David Rust

Macrofungi and their Niches – Walt Sturgeon



8:30-9:30 Mycoflora Committee

Mycoflora Wrap-Up

All are invited to discuss NAMA’s mycoflora work.

Conference Center foyer

10:15-12:00 Walt Sturgeon and Team

Walk Through the Display

Conference Center lower level

By 12:00 CHECK OUT

Return your keys and foray badges

Pick up your box lunch in the Dining Hall

Conference Center foyer or in the Dining Hall after breakfast



Throughout the foray, be sure to check out the display tables in the lower

level of the Conference Center. If you have mushrooms to add to the display,

please drop specimens off at the sorting tent outside, NOT at the display

tables. For more on the collection and vouchering process, see page 15 of

this program.

Also throughout the foray, you can visit the vendor area in the lower level of

Robinson Lodge. You’ll find mushroom-related items for sale from a dozen

different foray participants, ranging from fine art to mushroom cultivation

supplies.

Thanks to the two local wineries who donated gift certificates for our raffle:

Desert Rose Ranch & Winery

Open daily 12-6pm

13726 Hume Rd.

Hume, VA 22639

www.desertrosewinery.com

Rappahannock Cellars

Open daily 11:30-5pm, Saturday to 6pm

14437 Hume Rd.

Huntly, VA 22640

www.Rcellars.com

You can buy raffle tickets at the Registration table in the Conference Center

foyer. Winners will be announced during the evening program on Friday.



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Thanks also to the many foray participants who have donated items for the

silent auction! Please bring your items to Pat Lewis in the auction space in

the lower level of Robinson Lodge.

The silent auction will be open for bidding starting at the social on Thursday

night, then all day on Friday and Saturday.

Come bid for your chance at some fantastic items including:

Preserved mushrooms and extracts

Mushroom cultures, spawn, and kits

A digital camera

Photographs and watercolor paintings

Handmade items such as a hand-forged bottle opener, a mushroom

knife, a morel walking stick, and pottery

Lots of mushroom crafts and tchotskes

College application coaching

FUNGI Magazine subscriptions and gear

National Park-related items

Yummy edibles like honey, maple syrup, and a Virginia cider basket

Raw wool and hand-dyed items

Books

T-shirts

Bidding closes at 5:00 on Saturday. You can pick up your items then, or at

the social on Saturday night.



Catherine Aime is an associate professor of botany and

plant pathology at Purdue and director of the Purdue

herbaria. Catherine is an expert in the systematics, evolution,

and biology of rust fungi. Catherine has also spent 15 years

documenting and describing new species and genera from

Guyana and other tropical forests worldwide.

Denis Benjamin documents wildflowers and mushrooms

with photography and watercolors. He is author of

Mushrooms: Poisons and Panaceas and Musings of a

Mushroom Hunter: A Natural History of Foraging. A past

board member of the Puget Sound Mycological Society and

co-founder of the Yakima Valley Mushroom Club, he now lives in Fort Worth

and is a Research Associate at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

Alan Bessette is a mycologist and professor emeritus of

biology at Utica College. Alan has authored or coauthored

more than 20 books (many with his wife Arleen), including

Mushrooms of the Southeastern United States and specialized

field guides on boletes, waxcaps, tricholomas, and

ascomycetes.

Arleen Bessette is a mycologist, photographer, and dyer.

With her husband, Alan, Arleen has authored more than 14

books including Rainbow Beneath My Feet: A Mushroom

Dyer’s Field Guide. Arleen and Alan live in St. Marys, Georgia.

Michael Castellano is a researcher at the U.S. Forest Service

and associate professor at Oregon State University. Michael

is an expert in the ecology and diversity of mycorrhizal fungi,

particularly truffles.



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Tradd Cotter is owner of Mushroom Mountain and author

of the book Organic Mushroom Farming and Myco-

remediation. His mushroom farm and research laboratory in

South Carolina includes over 50,000 square feet of covered

space and houses more than 200 species of fungi. Research

projects include systems for filtering water, prototypes for novel antibiotic

discovery, and myco-pesticides for problematic insects.

Roy Halling is curator of mycology at the New York

Botanical Garden. Roy works on the classification,

systematics, biogeography, and diversity of mushrooms,

particularly boletes. Roy has focused on exploration for and

documentation of bolete diversity in Australasia for the past

10 years.

Susan Hopkins learned to identify fungi with the New Jersey

Mycological Association, where she has been a member for

the last 36 years. After attending the 1993 International

Fungi-Fibre Symposium in Scotland, she became a dyer. She

has a longstanding interest in the tooth fungi, particularly

Hydnellum, Phellodon, and Sarcodon. After retiring in 2009, Susan now lives in

the Adirondack Mountains of New York.

Mark Jones is CEO of Sharondale Mushroom Farm, located

near Charlottesville, VA. His current work includes learning

and teaching about low-input mushroom growing for small

farm diversification and soil fertility; how fungi can

contribute to agroforestry and natural resource

management; and local strains of mushrooms that have potential as food,

medicine, and earth healers.

Jay Justice has studied the macrofungi that can be found in

the Southern and Southeastern regions of the US for over 35

years. He is a co-founder of the Arkansas Mycological

Society, and scientific advisor or mycologist for clubs in

Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee. In 2011 he was the

recipient of NAMA’s “Contribution to Amateur Mycology” award. His

particular interests are the genus Amanita, Chanterelles and Boletes.



Ryan Kepler is a researcher at USDA's Systematic Mycology

and Microbiology Laboratory. He studies fungi that are

insect pathogens, including Cordyceps and Metarhizium.

Patrick Leacock is a mycologist at the Field Museum of

Natural History and runs the Voucher Program for NAMA

forays. Patrick started out with the Minnesota Mycological

Society and was Recorder at his first NAMA foray in 1988. He

works closely with the Illinois Mycological Association and is

assembling the rich Chicago mycoflora of over 1200 species.

James Lendemer is the assistant curator of the Institute of

Systematic Botany at the NY Botanical Garden, where he

oversees the largest lichen collection in the western

hemisphere. His research focuses on understanding the

biodiversity of lichens in North America, and working with

partners to develop and implement conservation strategies that will safeguard

those species for future generations.

Gary Lincoff is author of The Audubon Society Field Guide to

North American Mushrooms and many other publications.

He teaches courses on mushroom identification at the New

York Botanical Garden. He has led mushroom study trips and

forays around the world, and he is a featured “myco-

visionary” in the award-winning documentary Know Your Mushrooms.

Brian Looney is a PhD candidate in ecology and

evolutionary biology at the University of Tennessee. Brian is

studying macroevolutionary patterns in the russulas.

Alexa Mergen is a yoga teacher and author. Alexa’s yoga

lessons help you increase strength and flexibility of body and

mind. She lives in Harpers Ferry, WV, where she hikes, writes,

moon gazes and edits YogaStanza.org. Her poems and

essays are widely published in literary and popular journals.



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Andrew Methven is a mycologist and lichenologist in the

Department of Biological Sciences at Eastern Illinois

University, where he maintains a cryptogamic herbarium with

over 10,000 specimens. He has been a foray mycologist and

speaker at numerous NAMA and local events over the last

twenty years. He is author of Agaricales of California: vol. 10 Lactarius and The

Genus Clavariadelphus in North America.

Shannon Nix is Associate Director of Institutional Research

and Assessment and an affiliate faculty member of the

Biology Department at George Mason University. Prior to

joining George Mason this summer, Shannon taught

mycology, botany, microbiology and electron microscopy

courses at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, and studied how forest

management practices impact fecundity and diversity of mycorrhizal fungi.

Conrad Schoch is a scientist at the National Center for

Biotechnology Information at NIH. Conrad curates the fungal

taxonomy at GenBank.

Ann and Rob Simpson are noted natural history experts

who have spent years involved with research and

interpretation in the national parks. They have led Canon

“Photography in the Parks” workshops in several major

national parks, and their stunning images of the natural

world have been widely published in magazines such as

National Geographic and Time Magazine. Their publications

include Shenandoah Simply Beautiful, Born Wild in

Shenandoah, and several national park travel guides. They

are currently working on a series of wildflower books and a

series of nature guides for FalconGuides.



Dorothy Smullen is a former president of New Jersey

Mycological Association. She has been studying mushrooms

for over 40 years. She is a past president of NEMF and in 1987

received the Eximia award for contributions to Amateur

Mycology. Dorothy is a retired high school science teacher

with a masters in biology, and currently works as a teacher/naturalist at New

Jersey Audubon.

Walt Sturgeon is chief mycologist for the Foray. Walt is a

past president of the Ohio Mushroom Society, and recipient

of NAMA’s Award for Contributions to Amateur Mycology

and NEMF’s Eximia Award. He is co-author of Waxcap

Mushrooms of Eastern North America, Mushrooms of the

Northeast, and Mushrooms and Macrofungi of Ohio and the Midwestern States.

He is also an award-winning photographer; his pictures appear in many field

guides.

Barbara Theirs is Director of the William and Lynda Steere

Herbarium at the NY Botanical Garden, where she oversees

the Garden's 7.3 million collections of algae, bryophytes,

fungi, and vascular plants, as well as the C. V. Steere Virtual

Herbarium, which contains a searchable database of

digitized herbarium specimens (2 million so far, with 100,000 added each

year).

Rod Tulloss is editor of the website Amanitaceae.org. Rod

curates a fungarium that includes thousands of amanita

specimens.

Debbie Viess is a biologist, naturalist, writer and artist, who

fell under the spell of fungi over 25 years ago. She consults

on mushroom poisoning cases in CA and is a frequent source

on mycological matters for all branches of the media. The

Genus Amanita and deep taxonomy are two of her particular

fungal passions, and she thinks that any time spent in the woods is time well

spent.



13

Rytas Vilgalys is a professor of biology at Duke University

and curator of fungi at the Duke Herbarium. Research areas

in his lab include: the Fungal Tree of Life Project and the

origins of fungal biodiversity; molecular epidemiology and

population genetics of fungi; and molecular ecology of

fungal communities, including their interactions with plants across changing

environments.

Jorge Díaz-Valderrama is a PhD student at Purdue

University, working in the lab of Catherine Aime. His

research focuses on understanding the Marasmiaceae

fungus Moniliophthora roreri, causal agent of frosty pod rot

of cacao, one of the most devastating diseases of the crop.

Rachel Koch is a PhD student in botany and plant pathology

at Purdue University, working in the lab of Catherine Aime.

Rachel’s research focuses on the recently described

gasteromycete Guyanagaster necrorhizus of Guyana and its

unique spore dispersal mechanisms. She was the recipient of

the NAMA Memorial Fellowship in 2015.

Daniel Raudabaugh is a PhD student in the Miller Mycology

Lab at the University of Illinois. His work has focused on white

nose syndrome in bats. His current research focuses on the

community composition and environmental roles of aquatic

bog and freshwater stream fungi.

Jessie Uehling is a fifth year PhD student in Genomics at

Duke University studying with Rytas Vilgalys. Her dissertation

research is aimed at understanding endosymbiotic bacteria

living inside of plant associated fungi. At NAMA she will be

speaking on global bio-diversity of the ectomycorrhizal

genus Clavulina, with a focus on Guyana, South America.



Nicolette Albright is a Ph.D. candidate studying with Dr.

Janna Beckerman in the Department of Botany and Plant

Pathology at Purdue University, working in the lab of

Catherine Aime. Her current PhD thesis work includes

characterizing morel diversity in Indiana, both

phylogenetically and morphologically.

Emma Harrower is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of

Tennessee Knoxville, where she works with Brandon

Metheney. Emma is studying Cortinarius taxonomy as well as

worldwide biogeographic patterns.

Dillon Husbands is a Master’s student in botany and plant

pathology at Purdue University, working in the lab of

Catherine Aime. Her work focuses on the fungi and tropical

ecology of Guyana.

Bruch Reed is an actor and director from Chicago, currently

living in New York City. At the suggestion of his mycological

mentor Patrick Leacock, he became a member of the New

York Mycological Society and has had the privilege of five

foray seasons with Gary Lincoff and the inveterate NYMS.

Rachel Swenie works in Brandon Metheney’s lab at the

University of Tennessee Knoxville, where she aids in fungal

databasing, collections management, and molecular

annotation of specimens. She is working on a project on

diversity of Hydnum in the southeast U.S.



15

This will be the twentieth year of NAMA’s voucher program, which seeks to

document and preserve a representative specimen, or voucher, of each of the

species identified at each annual NAMA foray. Dried specimens are housed in

the Field Museum of Natural History, along with photographs and information

about where they were collected. This year, we will also report information to

the National Park Service.

We need your help! Please read the information below on how to collect the

best possible specimen, and what to do with it.

COLLECTING USEFUL SPECIMENS

Using a sturdy knife, dig under the duff to remove the entire specimen,

keeping the base intact and any rhizomorphs attached.

o Pick fresh, intact specimens. Specimens that are in poor condition

are only useful if they are the only instance of a species.

o Collect specimens of varying maturities when available.

Otherwise, we do not need multiple specimens of the same species.

o You may take up to a quart of edible mushrooms out of the park

each day, in addition to the specimens you collect for ID. The

mycophagy team will be happy to use them.

Place each species in its own bag to avoid cross-contamination.

Carefully remove excess leaves and dirt first.

Fill out an ID slip as completely as you can, and place it in the bag with

the specimen. Be sure to include:

o the field trip number and

o your name – we may want to ask questions, or recognize you for

an interesting find!

WHEN YOU RETURN WITH YOUR SPECIMENS

Go directly to the dropoff tent and find the table corresponding to your

field trip number. There will also be a mycophagy table for edibles.

Place each species on its own tray, with its ID slip.

DO NOT take your mushrooms to the tables inside! From the outdoor

foray table, your specimens must go through several steps first:

o ID confirmation by a designated identifier,

o photography and entering into the foray database (vouchering

system), and

o for selected specimens, sampling for DNA analysis.



Initial sign-up for field trips was completed online. Final sign-up sheets are

available in the conference center lobby, where you can cancel, swap trips, or

claim any unfilled spots.

Meet at least 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time.

Transportation will leave from the parking area between Robinson Lodge and

the Dining Hall. The field trip numbers and destinations will be on the

windows of each bus. Check in with your field trip leader, so your spot isn’t

given away.

Walk-ons who did not pre-register will be taken if there are open spots, or if

those who are registered do not show up by five minutes before departure.

Bring a collecting basket, water, knife, whistle, and pen or pencil. We’ll provide

waxed paper bags and ID slips.

If you are going on an all-day foray, the 4-H Center will provide a box

lunch. Please pick it up at breakfast and bring it with you.

Don’t get lost! Hunt with a buddy, and stay within earshot of your group.

TICK BORNE ILLNESSES ARE RAMPANT IN THIS AREA.

Lyme Disease (transmitted by deer ticks) can cause severe

acute illness and long-term complications.

Alpha-gal (transmitted by Lone Star ticks) can cause an allergy

to red meat and sometimes dairy products; some people have

gone into anaphylactic shock without knowing they have this

condition.

Protect yourself with two important precautions:

1. Spray your feet and ankles with insect repellent containing

DEET before hitting the trail.

2. Check for ticks when you get back, especially in your hair

and anywhere that your clothing fits tightly on your body.



17

WHISTLE SIGNALS

Remember, you can use your whistle to communicate:

1 Blast – I’m here (generally used as an answer)

2 Blasts – Come here (we’ve found something interesting,

or it’s time to leave)

3 Blasts – Help! (emergency)

Easy field trips are located on trails that should present no physical problem

to anyone used to being out and about.

Moderate field trips include trails that contain slopes that shouldn’t be an

issue at mushroom hunting speeds.

Challenging field trips may include short, steep sections and/or water

crossings with potential for wet feet. Barring heavy rains, forayers with good

balance or hiking sticks should stay dry.

1. Matthews Arm (Moderate)

This field trip will explore the area surrounding Matthews Arm Campground

in Shenandoah National Park, just past Milepost 22 on Skyline Drive. There

are many trails that intersect in the area. The canopy is comprised primarily of

upland oak-hickory forest with an understory comprised of mountain laurel,

viburnum, and a variety of berries. Other trees in the area include tulip poplar,

red maple, black locust, and beech. The average elevation is 2500 feet, with

ascents and descents of up to 200 feet. The western side of the foray area is

the headwaters of Jeremy’s Run, which is one of the tributaries of the

Shenandoah River.



2. Thompson Wildlife Management Area (Moderate)

This field trip is located in the Thompson Wildlife Management Area, along

the Appalachian Trail and adjacent access trails. Elevation is 1,300-1,500 in an

area of predominately hardwoods. Oaks, tulip poplar, hickory and ironwood

are abundant. There are several ecologically unique spring seeps in the area

that feed into small streams and Crooked Run, allowing the area to stay moist

even during much of the summer. There are many rock outcroppings.

3. Fox Hollow Loop (Easy)

This field trip will follow the Fox Hollow Loop in Shenandoah National Park at

an average elevation of 2,000 feet. The area is of historical note as the former

homestead of several generations of the Fox family. The trail passes the family

cemetery, the foundation of their home, and lichen-covered rock walls that

once lined pasture and orchards. The forest that has reclaimed the area

contains a wide variety of trees dominated by tulip poplar and black walnut,

switching to oaks at the end of the route. Spicebush and wild grapes are also

abundant. There is a spring and a small stream crossing.

4. Snead Farm Loop (Challenging)

This field trip is on the Snead Farm Loop in Shenandoah National Park at an

average elevation of 2,000 feet. The area is of historical note as the former

homestead of several generations of the Carter family, who were relatively

wealthy farmers with extensive orchards and cornfields, including the area

where the Dickey Ridge Visitor’s Center now stands. It is called the Snead

place because its last owner was a Rappahannock County judge of that name.

The park bought the 200-acre property in 1962. The trail covers mixed

deciduous forest in addition to open meadow areas and abandoned orchards.

5. AT at Markham (Moderate)

This field trip will explore along the Appalachian Trail in an area of uplands

that extend between routes 55 and 522 just outside Shenandoah National

Park, at an elevation of about 1,000 feet. The Appalachian corridor is about ½

mile wide at this point and affords foray areas on either side of the trail. There

are some open meadow areas interspersed with deciduous forest dominated

by chestnut oak trees. There is some drainage with a small tributary creek that

affords some potential for fungi that appear in riparian habitats.



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6. Elizabeth Furnace (Moderate)

This field trip will visit George Washington National Forest in the vicinity of

Elizabeth Furnace, one of the relict iron furnaces that used charcoal to smelt

iron ore in the 19th century. The area is riparian deciduous forest along the

Passage Creek and upland along the Tuscarora Trail to moderate oak-hickory

woodlands, at an elevation of 500-1000 feet. There are several areas of open

meadow/grassland and many secluded picnic tables for a lunch stop.

7. Fort Windham Rocks (Moderate)

This loop is formed by sections of three separate trails in Shenandoah

National Park, at an elevation of about 2,000 feet. It accesses Fort Windham

Rocks, a greenstone (metamorphosed basalt) formation that includes some

of the oldest rocks in the park. The large outcrop is covered in a diversity of

lichens. The field trip route traverses several different forest ecosystems,

including areas dominated by oak-hickory, black birch, and basswood. Striped

maple is plentiful in the understory. As time allows, we may explore more of

the Appalachian Trail and/or a side trail that leads to a spring-fed creek.

8. Gravel Springs (Moderate)

This field trip will explore the area of Gravel Springs shelter in Shenandoah

National Park, which gained some notoriety as one of the stops mentioned in

Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods. The field trip area surrounds the shelter in

an oak-hickory upland, at an elevation of 2,500 feet. We can explore areas

adjacent to three separate trails that intersect in this area. The general habitat

is wet around the shelter, as it is the headwaters of the Rush River.



9. Dickey Ridge Lower Trail (Easy)

This field trip will start just outside Shenandoah National Park and enter the

park on Dickey Ridge Trail, at an elevation of 500-750 feet. The general

category of the forest in this area is oak-hickory which is dominated by

chestnut oak and northern red oak. It is expected that mycorrhizal species will

predominate in this area. The northern side of the trail is dominated by a small

drainage area that is in a rutted area that has many dead trees that provide

habitat for saprophytic fungi.

10. Land’s Run/Dickey Ridge Upper Trail (Moderate)

This field trip will use three trails in Shenandoah National Park that intersect

with Skyline Drive at Land’s Run Gap. The average elevation of the area is

2,000 feet with a tree cover that is dominated by oaks. From the starting point,

there are areas to explore in four directions that will be accessed sequentially,

returning to the starting point after each short foray. Two of the trails remain

at elevation and one descends downward several hundred feet into a deep

wooded area. The last area is the upper reaches of Land’s Run Road; there is

a waterfall about .5 miles down this access on the right with a good

observation point.

You are welcome to explore most of the 4-H Center grounds on your own at

any time. However, the wooded area between Congressman Lodge and the

Peters Lodge (uphill from Fairfax Shelter) will be in use by another group

Friday afternoon through Sunday. Please respect their space.

You can access the Appalachian Trail from the trail that goes between Rector

Lodge and Peters Lodge (see map on the back of this program). From there,

you can hike as far as you like!

Within Shenandoah National Park, our research permit only includes the

field trips listed here, not individual collecting. Entrance to the park is $20

per vehicle, good for 7 days.

600 4H Center Drive, Front Royal, VA 22630

nama 2016 - north american mycological …growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms robinson lower...

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