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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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:

• Wet, Cold Winter Means Happy Hunting For Arizona Morel Mushroom Hunters
• It's Wild Mushroom Season In Arizona — But Which Ones Are OK To Eat?

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!

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. 

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.

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.

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 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.