The Arizona Mushroom Society is an all-volunteer organization that operates to further its goals of education, scientific discovery, and charitable support. The organization currently has up to 7 at large board members on its Board of Directors that have 2-year terms. In September 2023, the Board of Directors approved the addition of two addition board members in 2024.
Each year, the Society holds elections to fill board positions that have come to term or are otherwise vacant. At this time there are 4 board positions up for the vote.
This year the President, Michael Colosimo, appointed a nomination committee to nominate candidates for the board. Those candidates on the ballot today include those that were nominated by the committee and have accepted the nomination.
Who Can Vote
Each AMS membership has the ability to vote. Since an AMS membership covers your entire household, that means one person from each household (i.e. voting party) covered by a membership can vote. Please make sure that only one person per membership participates in the voting. Each voting party can cast as many votes as there are board position up for election. Since there are 4 board positions, each voting member would have 4 votes.
Who Are the Board Candidates?
We are extremely fortunate to have a number of current AMS members who are willing to roll up their sleeves and join the team. To be clear, ANYONE can volunteer to help AMS, but it is the Board of Directors that manage the financial resources and guide the organization on how to serve its mission and its over 2,000 members.
Those who accepted nominations to be on the Board of Directors for 2022 through 2024 include existing board members .... In addition, we have the following outstanding AMS members and candidates, including Julie Trotta, Jason Sartor, Spencer Wimmer, Adam Bailey.
Current Board members Lisa Goodwin and Weaver Younghands are also generously running for another term on the Board! We are incredibly thankful for their time and efforts with us!!!
Candidates for Board of Elections term to run 2023-2025
Weaver Younghands
I am a fungi enthusiast living in Tucson, and have been on the AMS board for 4 years. I have led/co-led forays, taught cultivation classes, and this year organized a series of zoom talks on topics such as medicinal mushrooms, mycoremediation, and mushroom dyeing. Outside of AMS I have worked in mushroom cultivation (Dr Barry Pryor’s lab at UA), and have volunteered at the UA Mycological Herbarium processing mushrooms for documentation. I have self-studied botany, ecology, and herbalism for the past decade. I deeply love sharing knowledge on all of the above through AMS, out in the field and on virtual events. Mushroom season is the highlight of my year, in large part because of the joy of connecting people and fungi out on forays. I hope to continue doing so in the role of AMS boardmember.
My enthusiasm for fungi and for collaboratively-run, educational, community-focused organizations led me to the AMS board, and I am motivated to increase accessibility and continue expanding knowledge and connection to fungi to our Arizona community. Related work experience comes from working almost four years at the small non-profit Native Seeds Search doing conservation and education work, and co-running a publishing collective and event space in Tucson.
I am also an independent artist who uses Sonoran desert ecological relationships as foundational themes in my work. You can see my work – ecologically-educational lunar calendars – at https://www.waterpatterns.net.
Lisa Goodwin
Hello fellow mushroom enthusiasts! I have been a member of AMS since 2015 and am seeking a third term reelection to the Board. In addition to serving on the Board, I have been actively involved in AMS for several years - from serving as the Culinary Committee Chair, assisting with AMS annual forays, coordinating and transporting guest speakers to our events, co-leading forays and just helping out wherever I can to make AMS events a success! I also currently serve as the Treasurer. As the Arizona mushroom community continues to grow, I would be honored to serve on the Board for another term and would strive to ensure that our members have opportunities to expand their knowledge of Arizona fungi and have some fun in the forest! Thanks for your consideration and happy mushrooming!
Julie Trotta
Hello, My name is Julie Trotta, and I have been a member of Arizona Mushroom Society for around 4 years now. My fascination for mushrooms started out as curiosity on how mushrooms grew, this led me to start growing mushrooms at home for my friends and family. Learning about mushrooms was fascinating to me because I had no idea that there was more mushrooms beyond what’s found in your typical grocery store. I discovered AMS and became obsessed with learning about wild mushrooms. In April of 2019, I took my daughters on our first mushroom forage, and we were hooked! From there, I learned how to identify several different types of edible and medicinal species of mushrooms. In spring of 2020 when we were all sent home from Covid, I started building and growing my mushroom farm Fungirl’s Fungi, where I learned how to grow mushrooms, grow a variety of bulk mushrooms as well as making tinctures, and mushroom products. I have a passion for cooking with mushrooms and making different dishes with them which I love to share.
I am honored to have been nominated for a board member for AMS and hope that my background skills in non-profit accounting combined with my love for mushrooms can make a positive impact. I’m excited to learn and grow more with Arizona Mushroom Society!
Jason Sartor
Hi all. My name is Jason Sartor and I am a candidate for a seat on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Mushroom Society.
Did you know that the Arizona Mushroom Society is an all-volunteer run organization? Whether it's organizing for the Annual Foray in August, leading mushroom hunters on forays into the Arizona mountains, helping further the science side of the fungal world, or aiding in a whole host of other valuable aspects, this is all done by members, members' contributions to the Society, and the gracious giving of volunteers' time and dedication.
I've been wandering the Arizona woods for almost 40 years, but only in the last 7 or so years have I been learning about mushrooms. Mushroom hunting has become the joy of my life and the AMS has been an integral part of my learning. I have volunteered with the AMS in different ways over the last 4 years and I would like to do more. I have great appreciation for how the Society is involved in our Arizona community and I believe I have the enthusiasm and organizational skills to help it continue to be an important resource.
Thank you for your consideration and we'll see you in the woods in 2024.
Spencer Wimmer
I am a 21 year old mycophile and amateur naturalist based in Tucson. I’ve been growing and foraging for mushrooms for a little under 3 years now. After encountering my first wild mushroom shortly before the beginning of the pandemic, I started cultivating mushrooms and later foraging for them on Mt. Lemmon. I was enamored with the variety of shapes, colors, and functions that each mushroom fulfilled! I spent almost every free hour of every day reading about or cultivating mushrooms. Eventually this love of mushrooms led me to the Arizona Mushroom Society, where I have been lucky to learn from a plethora of kind, knowledgeable, and passionate people sharing their resources and information freely, much like our mycorrhizal mushroom friends.
Aside from mushrooms, I am also passionate about building community, education, and hands-on-learning. During my freshman year in college I helped to found the (modern) MycoCats club at the University of Arizona and have organized over a dozen mountain cleanup/mushroom foray alongside my brother.
Now, I hope to have an opportunity to give back to the community that has taught me so much through participating in the AMS board of directors. Aside from the typical duties, I am particularly interested in helping develop educational resources and fostering collaboration between AMS and other organizations. Although I am no expert in organization, I hope to bring my passion, enthusiasm, and drive to the AMS!
Adam Bailey
I have been a dedicated Arizona Mushroom Society member since 2019 and have had the privilege of foraging, learning, and sharing my knowledge of fungi with many members. My interest in fungi began as a teenager in the Midwest, when I discovered my first morel. I have been obsessed ever since. I have actively participated in forays, contributed to scientific goals (specimen collection for vouchering), assisted with numerous identification requests, and generally spend as much time learning about Arizona genera and species as possible.
My goal as a board member is to further promote the AMS mission and contribute to the growth and popularity mushroom foraging has seen over the last several years. Specifically, I am interested in increasing AMS foray opportunities for current and future members. As a father of two young children, I am also interested in developing forays and outings tailored to the next generation.
It would be an honor to serve as an AMS board member. Thank you for the support.
How To Vote
The "ballot" will be sent out via email electronically on Saturday, December 2, 2023. One person from each AMS membership will be able to vote for board members by logging in to the website via the link in the email.
If you have any questions, please email us at azmushroomsociety@gmail.com
Sincerely,
Arizona Mushroom Society