The winter rains have come, which means we should see a good crop of wild mushrooms at our Yuba Watershed Fungus Foray and Wild Mushroom Exposition, on December 8 – 9, 2018.

We have an great lineup of speakers and activities for this year’s Fungus Foray, including Sunday workshops on mushroom cultivation, cooking with wild mushrooms, and making mushroom medicines.

Online pre-registration is required for participation in the Saturday morning foray, so sign up today while spaces are still available!

Saturday’s Schedule:

9:00 – 9:15 • Sign in and Register. Please arrive by 9:00 to ensure time for orientation.

9:15 – 10:00 • “Introduction to the Foray” and “Basic Forms of Fungi and Where to Find Them” – Daniel Nicholson, local mycologist and naturalist

9:30 – 10:15 • Foray groups organize and depart to foraging sites in the Tahoe National Forest and nearby U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands

1:15 -1:30 • Leave Foray sites and return to Shady Creek Center

2:30 – 3:30 • “Fungi of Vanuatu” – Dr. Brian Perry, mycologist and professor

3:30 – 4:30 • “Santa Cruz Fungi and Myco-flora Project” – Christian Schwarz, mycologist and author

Sunday’s Schedule:

11:30 -12:30 • “Fungi of Mexico (Hongos Insolitos de Mexico)” – Alan Rockefeller, mycologist

11:30 – 1:00 • “Uses of Fungi in Society” and “Mushroom Cultivation Workshop: Make Your Own Mushroom Kit” (1 per family to take home!) – Jeff Weld, farmer (New Leaf Permaculture Farm)

1:15 – 2:30 • “How to Cook Mushrooms, Creatively and a Wild Mushroom Cooking Demonstration” – Chad Hyatt, chef and author

2:45 -4:00 • “Medicinal Mushrooms of California” and “How to Make Medicine with Mushrooms” workshop – Dr. Christopher Hobbs, herbalist and author

Dear friends and supporters of the YWI,

The recent fires in Butte County and other parts of the state are a wake-up call. Only luck has kept Nevada County from being next, and we need to be doing more to protect our homes, our community, and our watershed.

The YWI has been working for years to make the forests of the San Juan Ridge safer from “catastrophic” wildfires, while improving the resilience of the landscape to drought, bark beetles, and climate change. Our work has only gotten more important as the years go on.

There are huge opportunities right now for making the San Juan Ridge and the rest of the Yuba River watershed more fire safe and climate resilient. Recent state legislation has authorized over $200 million in grants each year until 2024 for forest health and fire prevention projects.

The YWI was lucky to be awarded some of this funding this year for the ‘Inimim Forest, our collaborative project with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. We received a $75,000 planning grant from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and a $415,000 fire prevention grant from CAL FIRE.

However, these recent successes have not come without their own challenges, and this is where we need your help!

Our grants from these state agencies are “reimbursable,” which means that we have to spend our own money before we can get reimbursed from the state. We need to develop a “working pool” of funding in order to meet our commitments to our funders and do the much-needed work of keeping our local ecosystems resilient and fire safe.

Please consider helping us to do this important work by starting or renewing your YWI membership today!

Renew at www.yubawatershedinstitute.org/membership/ or by sending us a check at P.O. Box 2198, Nevada City, CA 95959.

Your generous support will also help us provide other programs that the community has grown to love, including:

• The annual Yuba Watershed Fungus Foray and Wild Mushroom Exposition, which will be held this year on December 8-9 at the Shady Creek Outdoor School and Event Center.
• Our periodic publication Tree Rings: the Journal of the Yuba Watershed Institute, where we bring you essays, artwork, and poetry on current watershed-related themes.
• Popular educational field programs, volunteer events, and evening workshops.

We are grateful for any support you’ve given in the past and hope that you will be inspired to help the YWI into its next phase by contributing at an increased level. Thank you for your enduring dedication to preserving the biodiversity of the Yuba River watershed and beyond!

Sincerely,

Chris Friedel
Executive Director

The winter rains have come, which means we should see a good crop of wild mushrooms at our Yuba Watershed Fungus Foray and Wild Mushroom Exposition, on December 8 – 9, 2018.

We have an great lineup of speakers and activities for this year’s Fungus Foray, including Sunday workshops on mushroom cultivation, cooking with wild mushrooms, and making mushroom medicines.

Online pre-registration is required for participation in the Saturday morning foray, so sign up today while spaces are still available!

Saturday’s Schedule:

9:00 – 9:15 • Sign in and Register. Please arrive by 9:00 to ensure time for orientation.

9:15 – 10:00 • “Introduction to the Foray” and “Basic Forms of Fungi and Where to Find Them” – Daniel Nicholson, local mycologist and naturalist

9:30 – 10:15 • Foray groups organize and depart to foraging sites in the Tahoe National Forest and nearby U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands

1:00 -1:30 • Leave Foray sites and return to Shady Creek Center

2:30 – 3:30 • “Santa Cruz Fungi and Myco-flora Project” – Christian Schwarz, mycologist and author

3:30 – 4:30 • “Fungi of Vanuatu” – Dr. Brian Perry, mycologist and professor

Sunday’s Schedule:

11:30 -12:30 • “Fungi of Mexico (Hongos Insolitos de Mexico)” – Alan Rockefeller, mycologist

11:30 – 1:00 • “Uses of Fungi in Society” and “Mushroom Cultivation Workshop: Make Your Own Mushroom Kit” (1 per family to take home!) – Jeff Weld, farmer (New Leaf Permaculture Farm)

1:15 – 2:30 • “How to Cook Mushrooms, Creatively and a Wild Mushroom Cooking Demonstration” – Chad Hyatt, chef and author

2:45 -4:00 • “Medicinal Mushrooms of California” and “How to Make Medicine with Mushrooms” workshop – Dr. Christopher Hobbs, herbalist and author