Is it safe to eat edible mushrooms gathered from former mine sites in the Sierra Nevada? Help us answer this question by contributing to the Yuba Watershed Institute’s new research project. Visit our CrowdRise fundraiser campaign page to donate.
We will test samples of up to 4 species of edible mushrooms collected from hydraulic “diggings” in Nevada County. Samples will be tested in a specialized laboratory for pollutant metals such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, chromium, copper, nickel, and zinc. These samples from legacy mining sites will be compared to samples of the same species collected from sites with no history of mining.
For your contribution, we will send you the results of our study when it is completed.