The Alberta Mycological Society conducts several mushrooms forays each year. These forays can be anywhere from 1-3 days long and take place in the Rocky Mountain foothills, northern Aspen Parkland, and southern Boreal Forest ecozones of Alberta.
Exact locations of the foray sites are available only to current members of the Alberta Mycological Society. If you wish to participate at a foray but are not a member, please contact our Foray Coordinator via e-mail.
Foray attendance is voluntary and is undertaken at your own risk. Attendees are responsible for transportation and accommodation logistics.
Please download our Foray Guidelines (pdf 19k) to assist you preparing for a foray and to assure you’ll have a safe and enjoyable time looking for fungi
Click on Schedule for 2010 information
The Great Alberta Mushroom Foray & Leni Schalkwijk Memorial Foray.
This years “Great Alberta Mushroom Foray” will be held on the September Long weekend, Sep 3 – 6, 2010. The location will be in the beautiful Kananaskis and Bow Valleys near Canmore, just outside Banff, Alberta.
This years foray will be designated “The Leni Schalkwijk Memorial Foray” honouring one of our founding members and mentors. “Leni” as she was affectionately known passed away this January at the age of 98. At every foray we hold in Alberta, Leni’s name is mentioned, as she is with us every time we reach for her book. Her book was the first field resource in Alberta and remains the go book for both amateur and professional mycologists in Alberta. We will also be using her book for the Beginners mushroom course, which will be offered for those of you starting out or just wanting a review. She was irrepressibly enthuastic about learning more and educating those around her about mushrooms. She patiently answered all questions and those questions she could not answer, she would research and send off a little note with her well thought out answer. The Alberta Mycological Society tries to keep this enthuasism, which she brought us, alive and enduring.
During the foray we will be visiting 12 varied sites, from Alpine too riparian, in the region. Samples of species will be brought back to our sorting area, where expert mycologists will help the identification process. Mushrooms that are identified are then entered into our database, photographed and set out for display. Hopefully, a bounty of the best edibles will head to the kitchen to be prepared and tasted.
We will be offering workshops and evening lectures, leaving time in the later evenings for lots of informal socializing. An evening banquet will be held in Leni’s honour.
Our facility will be the YMCA, “Camp Chief Hector” adjacent to the Bow Valley Provincial Park. The camp is beautifully located on a 1000 acre site which include a small lake with plenty of shore line to explore. Our main venue will be the Beaufore Lodge which has held many conferences.
The meals are included with registration and we have small dorm facilities with central washrooms (please view the site at (www.ymcalgary.org). We won’t anyone a top bunk unless you have some children you want to bring along. You are required to bring bedding or a sleeping bag. For those campers or RV’ers, there will be locations to set up near by. As this is the final summer long weekend, reccommend you book an RV lot soonest. If you are looking for a bit more luxury, Deadman’s Flats is about 10 minutes away as well as a lot more luxury at the Stony Naloda Resort, just 5 minutes away.
Please register early as we will be booking up early this year.
Click on Registration Form for registration details. Also we need to to sign the waiver form.