Out of the ashes come mushrooms: 2017 brings good crop
DENA WILEY shows a Conical Morel on the left and a Grey Morel on the right. Both are termed ‘Burn Morels’. (Marla Hall/Clark Fork Valley Press)
Dena Wiley looks through a basket of morels assessing quality of the mushrooms and looking for worms that tend to invade. (Marla Hall/Clark Fork Valley Press)
Mushroom buyers have been in Sanders County for about a month now as both locals and professional commercial pickers collect the morels from the vast area burned last year in the Copper King Fire. According to Dena Wiley and Robin Daems, two of the buyers out of Washington State, the Conicals are reaching the end of their season while the Greys are just coming in. At the peak of the season pickers were bringing in about 1000 pounds per day while now the take is about 200 lbs.
The buyers here sell to wholesalers in Spokane who then grade the morels and ship them—mostly to Europe. Dena and Robin first do some grading here to determine the price they are able to offer. Mushrooms that can be sold as ‘fresh market’ demand a premium price while those of a lower quality will be dried and sold later and thus are bought and sold for less.
The burn morels only grow the spring/summer after a burn and thus the professional pickers and buyers travel to different areas each year. According to Daems, some of the ranger districts are very receptive to the commercial harvesting while others are reluctant to allow such harvesting. He says the local district has welcomed them and consequently thousands of dollars have come into the nearby communities through permits, housing, food, etc. He says there has been a real mix of locals and professional pickers in Sanders county. Some of the locals, he says, have made it a family outing with the spry young ones having a grand time finding and picking the mushrooms.
Based on the local conditions, Daems and Wiley are predicting a good crop of grey morels in the next weeks. With the greys just coming into season, there is still time for those interested in making a little money to get in some picking. Permit prices are $60 for a 21 day permit and $75 for a 30 day permit.