The Fungi of the Gardens

Saturday, January 12
from 10AM to 12:30 PM
at the MCBG main entry

Fungi inhabit every aspect of the world around us, from our bodies to the land around us. They make partnerships with organisms, parasitize others, and keep the forests from piling high with logs or other plant debris. On this walk, we will survey the Gardens' grounds for fruiting bodies (mushrooms) and other fungal activity. In the case of mushrooms, we will cover edibility, toxicity, and medicinal uses all while trying to develop an eye for reading the landscape to where they might fruit.

THE DETAILS

• If you have one, bring a hand lense and a UV flashlight (recommended option).
• Come prepared to use your cell phone or camera to take photos and upload them to iNaturalist!
• The walk involves standing for long periods of time, and venturing off the main trails on varied terrain.
• Be prepared for the weather with appropriate layers.
• Bring a water bottle, notebook, and a pencil/pen.
• If you are sick, please stay home.

REGISTRATION

Class size is limited! Registration must be completed in advance online or at the Gardens main entrance. Please note all workshop fees are non-refundable unless the workshop has been canceled or rescheduled by the Gardens.

Registration will open soon...
If you would like to be notified when the class becomes available, please email education@gardenbythesea.org.

Walk Registration .......................... $35 per participant and includes Gardens admission for the day

Member Walk Registration ............ $25 per current MCBG Member

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Damon Tighe grew up in Calaveras County, California and made his way to the Bay Area to attend Saint Mary's College in Moraga to student Biology and Chemistry. After stints as a teacher in Portland, Oregon, a filmmaker in Bozeman, Montana, he returned to the Bay Area to work on the Human Genome Project at the Joint Genome Institute and now works for Bio-Rad Laboratories helping teachers bring biotechnology and modern biology education into classrooms. He has fallen head over heals for fungi ever since running out of food on the John Muir Trail and wondering of the mushrooms "can I eat that?" He currently volunteers with the Fungal Diversity Survey helping to build a DNA sequence and voucher based herbarium to understand California's diversity of mushrooms.

RECOMMENDED REFERENCES

Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast, Noah Siegel and Christian Schwarz – available at the MCBG gift shop!

iNaturalist

TRACKING YOUR OBSERVATIONS

You can contribute as a citizen scientist and keep track of all your observations made in nature using the iNaturalist app. This powerful tool allows anyone with an account to help identify and document anything you observe in nature including birds, bugs, plants, scat, marine life, and more. iNaturalist observations are also helpful to scientists because they document a species in a location and date, and the phenology (blooming, fruiting, larvae, adult, etc.).

• Download iNaturalist to your phone or mobile device and begin to build your profile and observations!
• Click here for some helpful video tutorials to get you started
• Familiarize yourself with iNaturalist and check out all of the observations that the community has made at the Gardens so far — MCBG Community Page
• Prepare your smartphone or digital camera for a day of photographing the flora and fauna of the Gardens