Arizona Mushroom Society Latest News

2026 Dr. Chester Leathers Scholarship Selections Annouced!

Michael Dechter — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 00:30:59 GMT

The Arizona Mushroom Society is proud to announce that the 2026 Dr. Chester Leathers Student Scholarship has been awarded to five students engaged in the study of mycology in an Arizona college or university this year!

This year the scholarship award was $2000 per award for graduate students and a $500 award for undergraduate students.

This scholarship is a valuable opportunity for the Arizona Mushroom Society to support individuals pursuing the study of mycology in Arizona and to honor Arizona Mushroom Club founder and mycologist, Dr. Chester Leathers.

This year's scholarship awards go to...

Andrew Henning

Andrew is a PhD student in Biology at Northern Arizona University. He is studying secondary metabolites that can be used to fight against bark beetles that are introducing tree-killing fungi in California and Arizona.

Ariana Brown

Ariana is getting her Masters of Science in Biology at Northern Arizona University. Her research focuses on developing a gene preparation process using CRISPR to address the urgent need to expand Valley Fever (Coccidioides) research in Arizona by improving the efficiency and accessibility of genetic manipulation.

Eduardo Gutierrez

Eduardo, or Guti as he is called, is a graduate student working on lichens of the Sonoran Desert with Dr. Frank Bungartz of Arizona State University. As part of efforts to support an Inventory of lichenized fungi in Madera Canyon, his work will include re-examining common lichens with fresh samples and DNA sequencing to see if they are genetically unique. He plans to make his work on Arizona lichens more accessible to the public by developing an illustrative field guide for lichen species in Madera Canyon.

Laura Nicholson

Laura is a PhD student in Earth Sciences & Environmental Sustainability at Northern Arizona University. She studies the presence and effects of Biscogniauxia mediterranea as a new pathogenic fungus in AZ and its effects on Emory Oak and whether fungal endophyte diversity plays a role in plant defense. She is also looking into the effects of ectomycorrhizal fungi on plant defense and resilience to drought and wildfire.

Bryce Fields

Bryce is an undergraduate student at Northern Arizona University. He is studying algae-fungal interactions in soil as part of Professors Nancy Johnson and Catherine Gehrings’ research efforts.

2025 Dr. Chester Leathers Scholarships Awarded!

Michael Dechter — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 04:42:27 GMT

The Arizona Mushroom Society is proud to announce that the 2025 Dr. Chester Leathers Student Scholarship has been awarded to five students engaged in the study of mycology in an Arizona college or university this year!

This year the scholarship award was increased to $2000 per award for graduate students and a new category for undergraduate students was added with a $500 award.

This year's scholarship awards go to...

Keven Griffen

Keven is a PhD student at the Northern Arizona University School of Forestry. Her studies include how to best restore soil biocrusts and whether the restoration of biocrusts catalyzes broader ecosystem restoration. Her recent work includes growing biocrust sods to facilitate restoration within the 2021 Telegraph Fire near Superior, AZ.

Amanda Rouillard

Amanda is a PhD student with the School of Ecosystem Science and Society at Northern Arizona University. She is studying freshwater fungal communities and their role in nutrient cycling and decomposition in Arizona streams. She is using techniques including Quantitative Stable Isotope Probing to study decomposition rates in leaf litter.

Jackson Parrish

Jackson is currently an undergraduate getting a Bachelor's degree in microbiology, and has already been accepted as a Masters student in Biology, both at Arizona State University. He currently works at the BEAR Lab as a lab assistant where he plans to expand his studies as a graduate student into the relationship between psilocybin-induced gut microbiome changes and cognitive, behavioral, and epigenetic outcomes in aged mice.

Sierra Weaver

Sierra is an undergraduate in studying biology at Northern Arizona University. She is interested in studying if bark beetles can detect and are influenced by fungi in tree tissue. She is interested in investigating if bark beetles can detect and tunnel away from parasitic fungi (Beauvaria bassiana) when given a choice.

Zach Jacob

Zach is an undergraduate at Northern Arizona University studying chemistry. He is interested in using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry to determine heavy metal concentrations in locally foraged mushrooms. He plans to start by investigating the content of Cadmium in Amanita cochiseana (nom prov).

2025 Board of Directors Election Results

Michael Dechter — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 05:00:59 GMT

On December 7, 2024 Arizona Mushroom Society members voted for 5 of 9 positions on the Board of Directors. The final count was extremely close, and we wish we could keep them all!

To find out the final results, please visit the 2005 Board of Directors Election Results webpage.

2024 Dr. Chester Leathers Graduate Student Scholarship Awards

Michael Dechter — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 03:39:51 GMT

The Arizona Mushroom Society is proud to announce that the 2024 Dr. Chester Leathers Graduate Student Scholarship has been awarded to four graduate students engaged in the study of mycology in an Arizona college or university this year!

This year's scholarship awards go to...

Danika Thiele - Danika is working on a Masters of Science and Policy at Northern Arizona University. She is studying the arbuscular fungi of Saguaro Cacti in habitat with varying fire history and invasive species presence to support Saguaro conservation.

Andrew Henning - Andrew is in a Masters of Science program at the School of Forestry at Northern Arizona University. His work focuses on identifying native bioactive endophytes and their metabolites in northern AZ Ponderosa pine.

Ri Corwin - Ri is studying for a Masters in the Biology Department under Dr. Catherine Gehring at Northern Arizona University and transitioning into a PhD program. Her area of study is focusing on the effects of climate change on arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal fungi.

Kirby Morris - Kirby is is studying for a Masters in the Biology Department under Dr. Catherine Gehring at Northern Arizona University. His studies include an assessment of Geopora abundance under drought and whether or not they are associated with drought tolerant or intolerant pinyon trees.

2023 Annual Foray Species List Now Available

Michael Dechter — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 02:32:41 GMT

Thanks to Scientific Committee Chair, Terri Clements, all of the approximately 140 fungi species observed during the August 11-13, 2023 Annual Foray have now been documented on the 2023 Annual Foray Species List.

AMS Annual White Mtn Foray 2023 Species List.xlsx

This list is helpful for knowing which species of macrofungi occur in the White Mountains in eastern Arizona. Many of these species have been DNA sequenced to confirm identification as marked on the spreadsheet.

Foray mycologist Else Vellinga and Foray Specimen Manager, Spencer Wimmer also contributed greatly to this effort.

2023 Board of Directors Election Results!!!

Michael Dechter — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 03:57:30 GMT

On December 2, 2023 the Arizona Mushroom Society held annual elections to seat four elected members of the Board of Directors. The voting took place electronically for the entire day, and the results identified the following new board members to serve a term on the board from 2024-2026.

We want to congratulate your elected board members!!!

Lisa Goodwin

Jason Sartor

Spencer Wimmer

Adam Bailey

We also want to truly thank all candidates willing to volunteer their time and share their passion for fungi with all of us.

AMS Etsy Shop now open!

Michael Colosimo — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 03:39:05 GMT

We now have an Etsy shop open for AMS merchandise! New items will be added as time allows.

Please visit here for the shop.

AMS Board of Directors decide to raise annual family membership to $25/.year

Michael Dechter — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 21:09:35 GMT

On Monday, December 12, 2022 the Arizona Mushroom Society Board of Directors voted unanimously to raise the annual membership costs for individuals and families from $15/year to $25/year. The change in membership costs will take place starting in 2024.

The decision to raise the annual membership cost was based on sudden increases in active members in the organization in the last few years and based on a benchmarking study that compared membership costs amongst similar organizations. The annual membership cost has remained the same since the organization was incorporated. During that timeframe, membership increased by over a factor of 10, which has resulted in greater costs and a need for more capacity to address operational limits. A look at similar mycological organizations throughout the west showed us that the Arizona Mushroom Society had the lowest membership costs of all of them at $15/year. Our neighboring mycological clubs have membership costs on par with the approved $25/year cost.

If you have questions about this decision or to discuss membership payment options or support, please contact us at azmushroomsociety@gmail.com.

2022 Annual Foray Species List Now Available!

Michael Dechter — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 21:33:15 GMT

The 2022 Annual Foray occurred on August 12-14, 2022 throughout the White Mountains.

This Species List was compiled by Terri Clements based on input by foray mycologist Alan Rockefeller, and contributions by foray participants, foray leaders, and others who entered observations into the iNaturalist app during the weekend of the foray in the white mountains area.

We had a robust monsoon season with above average precipitation resulting in the listing of 250 different fungal species on the annual foray species list!

2021 Annual Foray Species List Now Available!

Michael Dechter — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 03:55:15 GMT

The 2021 species list from the August 20-22, 2021 Annual Foray is now available!

This list was compiled by Scientific Committee Chairperson, Terri Clements, with contributions for foray leaders.

This year's precipitation was well above average and Terri recorded 210 different species!

To view the list, you can click here.

2021 Annual Foray Planned for August 20-22, White Mountains, AZ

Michael Dechter — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 15:50:41 GMT

The Arizona Mushroom Society Annual Foray is planned to occur in the White Mountains on the weekend of August 20-22, 2021. The 2021 foray will be similar to last year, where participants are to find their own lodging arrangements and AMS will host a number of small group forays throughout the weekend.

In addition to the forays, AMS will host an in-person presentation or mushroom identification talk for any and all registered participants during that weekend.

We're still figuring out the details, but wanted to share our current plans in case you can join us this summer.

Dr. Chester Leathers Graduate Student Scholarship Fund for mycological studies is now open for applications!

Michael Dechter — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 17:28:36 GMT

Last year the Arizona Mushroom Society raised over $1000 for the Dr. Chester Leathers Graduate Student Scholarship Fund that we founded through silent auctions and donations.

Applications for this grant from graduate students in any fungal-related field at any of the Arizona public universities. (Forestry, ecology, microbiology, environmental engineering, plant science, etc.)

The page below on the AMS website has full details. Those of you in the world of academia, please think about applying for this scholarship, or publicize it with your friends and coworkers if you don't qualify.

Applications must be submitted by January 30th, 2021 11:59PM to the following email: AZmushroomsociety@gmail.com

https://www.arizonamushroomsociety.org/Chet-Leathers-Scholarship

Arizona Mushroom Society Needs Your Help!

Michael Dechter — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 02:32:57 GMT

In 2020, the Arizona Mushroom Society continued to serve its members and increase the understanding and appreciation of local mushrooms and fungi. Despite a record breaking drought and a global pandemic, volunteers with the organization hosted over 20 small group forays in 2020, almost a dozen online events, and other educational opportunities. AMS members helped to contribute several thousand dollars to local organizations and by being a member of this organization you continue to support local mycological research and the identification of new Arizona fungal species.

The Arizona Mushroom Society organization is turning a page and needs help from its members to continue operating as a volunteer run non-profit. Current president, Mike Dechter, is at the end of his term and we are looking for volunteers to become board members and take on a leadership role in the organization. While knowing how to identify wild mushrooms is a valued skill, it is not necessary to help out with the organization.

Elections for the organization will take place on December 5, 2020 at what is usually the annual meeting. If you are interested please contact us to learn more about how we work and nominate yourself for a position on the AMS Board of Directors.

AMS provides grant for research on lichenous degradation of Native American rock art

Christopher May — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 19:37:50 GMT

Recently the Arizona Mushroom Society was pleased to be able to provide a $1000 research support grant to lichenologist Dr. Frank Bungartz at the ASU School of Life Sciences. He is the curator of the ASU Lichen Herbarium and the chief botanist of the Charles Darwin Foundation of the Galápagos Islands.

These funds will be used for acquisition of 3-D photogrammetry software that will allow detailed observation and analysis of lichenous weathering of Native American petroglyphs (rock art) in Arizona and beyond. Initially they will be working with archaeologists at the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve in North Phoenix and the Verde Valley Archaeological Center at the V-Bar-V Ranch near Sedona.

Many of our members will recall the lichenology lecture that Prof. Bungartz has delivered to our society, or the multiple events that we have held in his classroom at the ASU Natural History Collections building. We can all be proud that that our fundraising efforts have allowed us to reciprocate this support, to the advancement of scientific knowledge and the preservation of our cultural heritage.

If you are particularly interested in the science of lichens, which are (despite their humble appearance) some of the most interesting and complex organisms in the Kingdom of Fungi, there are volunteer opportunities available with Dr. Bungartz' research group, and he instructs Lichenology classes for credit or audit at ASU. He is also soliciting donations to a GoFundMe campaign to provide scholarships for scientists from Latin American countries to attend the 9th Symposium of the International Association for Lichenology (IAL9) in Bonito, Brazil, August 2-7, 2020. We encourage our members to support this cause.

Morel foray registration opens at midnight tonight

Christopher May — Wed, 01 May 2019 05:21:50 GMT

Tonight at midnight, the rosters for our upcoming morel forays open for registration.

The scheduled foray dates, destinations, and leaders are as follows:

DATE	DESTINATION	CAPTAIN
Sat 5/4/19	Flagstaff/Sedona	C. May
Sun 5/5/19	Mogollon Rim	C. May
Wed 5/8/19	Mogollon Rim	T. Clements
Thu 5/9/19	Mt. Graham	C. May
Fri/Sat 5/25-26	Kaibab Plateau	M. Dechter

Remember, tonight and for the next two days, you can register for ONE foray only. On and after May 3, you can register for any remaining spaces in any foray, or put yourself on the waiting list if it's full. We often have cancellations, so please do get on the waiting list if you want to go on a foray that's already filled. There's a decent chance you'll get it.

Mike Dechter and Chris May have also decided to push back the North Rim foray from the original weekend of May 11-12 to the weekend of May 24-25. Mike's sources on the Kaibab National Forest tell him there is still so much snow up there that the roads to our target area will certainly not be open by May 11. In fact, northern Arizona is predicted to have a cool, wet month of May, and it is possible that the trip may even be pushed back into June, especially if there are more snowstorms. But good things will come to those who wait. We were also receiving some squawks about Mother's Day on the 12th, so it makes sense to make the move to a later date. Sorry for the last minute adjustments.

As always, any of our forays may be subject to rescheduling or cancellation, as conditions and events warrant.

As events unfold and our schedules are solidified, it is possible that we will be adding a few more forays. There may be a Saturday 5/11 or Sat/Sun 5/18-19 foray going out, which will be added to the event page and opened for registration beginning next week.

Leathers Scholarship awarded for 2019

Christopher May — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 18:00:36 GMT

We are pleased to announce that the 2019 Dr. Chester Leathers Graduate Student Scholarship has been awarded to Nicole Colón-Carrión, a Ph.D. student in Dr. Betsy Arnold's lab at the University of Arizona School of Plant Sciences.

Ms. Colón-Carrión is studying the role of symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi for urgent reforestation of hurricane-damaged forest ecosystems, focusing on the biodiverse native forest communities in Puerto Rico that were severely impacted by Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Her work aims to develop new strategies to restore severely damaged ecosystems expediently and effectively through beneficial fungi that help plants become established, tolerate stress, obtain nutrients, and use water efficiently. Moreover, it will provide hands-on and meaningful educational experiences for Puerto Rican students whose education has been affected by the hurricane and its economic and social consequences.

The research program has three main aims overall:

Aim 1: Analyze the abundance, diversity, and composition of mycorrhizal fungi in roots from 6 native species of trees in Puerto Rico.
Aim 2: Assess the effects of mycorrhizal-symbiotic relationships and native species of Puerto Rico by inoculating seedlings of five dominant forest trees and analyzing growth effects in a greenhouse setting.
Aim 3: Quantify the efficacy of mycorrhizal fungi in improving reforestation success by transplantation and growth experiments in highly damaged forest ecosystems.

These goals will be supported by a program of local outreach and citizen science participation, which is a topic of great interest to a number of our more scientifically-oriented Society members. Ms. Colón-Carrión has indicated that she will be coming to our annual foray or winter meeting to give us a presentation on her work, which we are eager to hear.

Our award comes with a $1000 grant, which will be used for transportation expenses to and within Puerto Rico to allow her to continue her field work. We wish her all success in this important endeavor, and are pleased to be able to play a small part in supporting it.

The Leathers Scholarship was established by the AMS in 2017 to honor our Founding President Emeritus, Dr. Chester Leathers, retired Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at ASU. It provides an annual grant to a graduate student in a mycology-related field at one of the state universities of Arizona.

2018 Financial Statements

Christopher May — Tue, 01 Jan 2019 22:23:26 GMT

The AMS has completed 2018 in good financial shape. Income for the year was $17,335.54 and expenses were $8,168.67, giving us a net income on a cash basis of $9,166.87.

We presently hold $19,356.40 in liquid assets between our Wells Fargo checking account and our PayPal account. Of that sum, $4,938.00 is allocated to the Chet Leathers Scholarship fund and the rest is unrestricted.

It should be noted that we still are liable for an outstanding debt of approximately $4,000 for the food and hotel charges at the August 2018 annual foray, for which we have not yet been billed by the Sunrise Park resort due to some internal turmoil in their management. On an accrual basis, that would give us a more realistic "net worth" of approximately $15,000 and a net annual income of around $5000.

If you would like to see the more detailed Statement of Financial Activities (the non-profit equivalent of an income statement or profit/loss statement), it is at this link:

• 2018 AMS Statement of Financial Activities

If you wish to see the Statement of Financial Position, i.e. the non-profit version of a balance sheet, it is at this link:

• 2018 AMS Statement of Financial Position

Naturally, as a non-profit corporation, any or all of the receipts and other supporting documentation for our financial affairs is available for any member to inspect on demand.

The Board is grateful for the generosity of the members of the Society, and eager to use the financial stability it provides to advance the educational, scientific, and charitable purposes of our organization to even greater heights in 2019.

New directors and officers for 2018

Christopher May — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 05:22:29 GMT

Congratulations to the new and continuing members of the AMS Board of Directors, Executive Officers, and Committee Chairs.

Mike Dechter of Flagstaff is your new President. Terri Clements is Vice President, Christopher May is Corresponding Secretary, Nathan Markham is Treasurer, and Winter Zeiler the Recording Secretary.

Financial update

Christopher May — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 07:14:26 GMT

Here is a brief updating on the financial affairs of the AZ Mushroom Society as of Dec. 4th. These are preliminary numbers that will likely change before the end of the year.

We currently have 421 members in good standing, living in 305 different households. 10 of our members are Life Members.

The Society holds $9,986.81 in assets (Wells Fargo checking account and PayPal account) and has no liabilities. Total revenue so far this year is $22,715.20, of which $500 is donations, $3555.01 is membership dues, and $18,660.19 is from our special events, particularly the NAMA foray. Our total operating expenses have been $18,660.17, about $16,700 of which were spent on special events, so our net increase in assets for the year thus far is $4,055.03.

At Saturday's meeting, we will discuss programs of charitable, scientific, and educational value that we can fund with our surplus. If you have an idea, please come to the meeting and speak up, or contact one of the officers of the society.

If anyone would like to see our financial statements, they are available for inspection here:

Statement of Financial Position (Balance sheet)
Statement of Activities (Income and expenses)

We can also provide supporting documentation to anyone who requests it.

Annually recurring automatic dues payments have been canceled for now

Christopher May — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 00:24:43 GMT

Quite a lot of our members have set up automatic dues payments from their PayPal account to the Society's PayPal. Unfortunately, I have had to suspend these recurring payments, at least for now. It has turned out to be an accounting nightmare because of the way PayPal handles these payments, which is entirely incompatible with our bookkeeping software.

Additionally, I did not realize until recently that if you enable annual renewals in our member management program, they become MANDATORY, unless you cancel them afterwards. Enough people have done so that it appears that this has been an annoyance to some of our members.

If your automatic renewal has already gone through for this year, you need do nothing until your 2018 membership is about to expire next December. If it has not yet been paid, or if you set up your membership account before the recurring payments option was allowed, then you'll need to take action to pay with PayPal or a check just the same as we did last year. Remember, if your dues are in arrears after April 1, your membership is suspended and you'll miss out on morel season with us.

Those of you who are new members that joined on or after Sep. 1, you are already members for all of next year. You need not pay for a 2018 membership. I will ensure that your renewal date is changed to 1/1/19 in order to reflect this.

AMS in the news recently

Christopher May — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 19:19:03 GMT

The Arizona Mushroom Society and its members have made it into the news a few times recently.

Our longtime member Terry Stone wrote a nicely illustrated article about Arizona mushroom hunting for the Globe/Miami Times:

Foraging for Arizona Mushrooms

This story from the Lumberjack, the student newspaper of NAU in Flagstaff, quotes AMS President Chris May at length:

Edible Mushrooms, Treasures of the Coconino National Forest

Here is a story from KNAU, the PBS affiliate in Flagstaff, about the Flagstaff Arboretum's Mushroom Festival. The mushroom shaped glasses worn by our Foray Director, Mike Dechter, are especially fetching:

Eats and Beats: Feasting on Forest Fungus

This story from last year in Indian Country Today describes the wild food dinner we had at our 2016 Annual Foray, prepared for us by Chef Nephi Craig of the White Mountain Apache Tribe. Those who were there will long remember the delicious multi-course dinner we enjoyed, consisting entirely of foods that would have been available in the Americas in Pre-Columbian times:

In the Kitchen with Chef Nephi Craig

The Payson Roundup reported on all of the wild food that can be found in Rim Country, with a shout-out to the AMS:

All of Rim is a Garden

The Phoenix PBS affiliate, KJZZ, published two stories on Arizona mushroom hunting last year, quoting our members Erik Nelson and Jim Warnecke:

Lastly, you might be interested in this article from FUNGI Magazine about the activities of citizen-scientists in mycology, including our own superstar Terri Clements, who is quoted and singled out for praise:

Mushroom Citizen Science in USA: From Species Lists to Mycofloras 2.0

That's it for now, but I'm sure there will be more as time goes by. If you write any stories like these, or are interviewed or quoted in one, or just see something in the news about our Society or Arizona mushrooms in general, let us know!

Update on Dr. Leathers & family

Christopher May — Sat, 29 Jul 2017 03:20:29 GMT

Laurel Leathers sends the following update on our friend and Founding President Emeritus, Dr. Chester Leathers:

Rose Mary Leathers asked if I would drop you a quick line to let you know why she and Chet have not been participating in the mushroom activities. You may have heard already, but Chet suffered a mild heart attack in May which led to by-pass surgery. He is on the road to recovery but not yet up to long outings.

As for me, I have knee replacement surgeries planned for this year. That is what has kept me out of the hunts. Hopefully next year I can get my new bionic knees out in the woods again.

I miss all of my friends in the club and wish everyone a great season.

Sincerely,

Laurel Leathers

We assuredly wish both of them a speedy recovery, and look forward to the pleasure of their presence at our future functions.

New Mexico Mycological Society Foray Aug. 24-27

Christopher May — Thu, 04 May 2017 17:46:19 GMT

Got this announcement from our friends in New Mexico today. I am very tempted to attend. --CCM

The New Mexico Mycological Society will hold its 2017 Foray at Sipapu Ski Resort, approx 25 miles south of Taos, NM. The dates are August 24-27, two weeks after the Regional Foray in Arizona and the weekend following the popular Telluride Mushroom Festival.

NMMS welcomes and encourages members of NAMA and NAMA-affiliates to join us and our Foray Mycologists Rick Kerrigan, Michael Castellano, and Clark Ovrebo. Field trips will take us into the Carson National Forest, where we'll visit elevations from 8000 to 11,000 ft.

Foray participants are responsible of reserving their own lodging, which is limited. So get on the phone with Sipapu, and reserve a room.

Foray Details and Registration Form are available at NewMexicoMyco.net/Foray.

Registration now open for the NAMA Regional Foray in August

Christopher May — Wed, 03 May 2017 03:46:07 GMT

Just opened registration for the NAMA Regional Foray on Aug. 10-13.

There will be a lot of instruction going on here, including advanced Agaricus identification with Dr. Rick Kerrigan and a novices' mushroom identification workshop with Tom Chapman. Southwestern fungi expert Dr. Scott Bates, of the Arizona Mycota Project, is the chief mycologist. There will be a cooking class with Mary Smiley and an arid-climate cultivation workshop taught by mushroom grower Clinton White. A microscopy workshop and lots of ID sessions round out the instructional offerings.

You can hunt mushrooms each morning, learn mushrooms each afternoon, and eat mushrooms each evening, for four days and three nights. The only catch is that you have to be a NAMA member and get the registration code from them.

The 2017 NAMA Regional Foray is moving to the Sunrise Park hotel

Christopher May — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 22:31:22 GMT

Our original plan to hold the NAMA Regional Foray at a summer camp in Pinetop has run into some objections due to their open dormitory-style lodging and a policy against alcohol on their property. Luckily, we have recently arranged to move our event to the Sunrise Park Resort hotel near the ski area. A block of modestly priced hotel rooms has been reserved for us. This will be a little more costly, but not drastically so, and the location should be far superior. Full details will follow, and registrations should open by the beginning of April once all our budgeting is complete.

Local Meet-Up Forums Added

Christopher May — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 09:21:30 GMT

Local discussion forums have been added to the members' Meet-Up page. Residents of the Phoenix Metro area, Tucson, Prescott, Payson, Flagstaff/Verde Valley area, and the White Mountains now will have their own respective forums for discussion of issues of local concern and arranging ride-sharing with fellow members.

2016 Winter Potluck on December 17th

Christopher May — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 02:35:31 GMT

Our annual holiday potluck supper will take place on the evening of Saturday, Dec. 17th at 6:30 PM, at the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension building at 4341 E. Broadway Rd. in Phoenix.

We will have an educational lecture from mycologist Britt Bunyard, PhD, the publisher and editor in chief of FUNGI Magazine and the director of the Telluride Mushroom Festival.

U of A mushroom growing workshops scheduled for this summer

Christopher May — Tue, 17 May 2016 23:39:13 GMT

Dr. Barry Pryor and his associates at the University of Arizona School of Plant Science are offering repeat sessions of their mushroom cultivation workshop at several locations around the state this summer.

Show Low - June 1

Tucson - June 29

Prescott - August 10

Tucson - August 31

For more information and to register for the course, see:

http://www.azmushroom.org/news/upcoming-workshops

Mushroom cultivation workshop Feb 24th in Phoenix

Christopher May — Sat, 13 Feb 2016 19:58:45 GMT

The Arizona Mushroom Growers Association and the U of A Plant Sciences department are sponsoring a mushroom cultivation workshop on the afternoon of Wednesday, Feb. 24th. It will take place at the Cooperative Extension Building on Broadway Road in Phoenix, where we have our annual meetings.

Security warnings when connecting to the web site

Christopher May — Sun, 24 Jan 2016 04:15:25 GMT

Some people have reported trouble connecting to the new web site. This is a known problem with two easy workarounds that I will describe below.

The difficulty arises when a web browser with relatively strict security settings reads the SSL encryption certificate from our site. Because the domain name on that certificate is "wildapricot.org", it throws up a red flag warning that the site is not "arizonamushroomsociety.org" as was claimed. This is because we are hosting our web site (at least for the time being) with a popular membership software provider, Wild Apricot, and using their certificate instead of our own.

The certificate and its installation cost some $150 per year, and while I hope to see the club grow large enough someday to afford this without difficulty, right now it is an excess and avoidable expense.

The first and perhaps simplest way to get around this hiccup is to use a different URL identifier for our web site. If you use

https://arizonamushroomsociety.wildapric ot.org

as the address, the site should function in the exact same way, but without the warnings.

Alternatively, you may elect to "trust" the Wild Apricot certificate whenever you connect to the AZ Mushroom Society site at its original name. This should be possible with every web browser and operating system that uses SSL certificates, although how to do so is beyond the scope of this post. Typically the same dialog box or bar that gives you the security warning will also contain a checkbox or button that allows you to proceed to the original website after confirming that you trust the certificate.

Go to the end of the page at this link for an example image:

http://arizona-mushrooms.org/2016/01/23/arizona-mushroom…ng-registrations/

2015 Annual Holiday Potluck

Wed, 16 Dec 2015 19:25:09 GMT

The Annual Holiday Potluck of The Arizona Mushroom Club opened with the announcement of the retirement of founder and long time president Dr. Chester Leathers. After a fun and informative presentation on edible and medicinal plants by Jean Groen, Dr Leathers was commended for his long commitment to the AMC and thanked by the membership.

The membership voted to incorporate as a nonprofit, educational organization. Membership elected a board of directors, who in turn voted on the Bylaws necessary for incorporation. To attain status as a tax deductible charity, the club will be renamed as the Arizona Mushroom Society, Inc.

A considerable amount of enthusiasm was shown for developing more mushroom-related activities, and we are looking forward to the changes this will bring.

Check back here for more exciting updates.

Minutes of the meeting will be posted on this website as soon as they are approved by the board.