The 2019 Annual Foray of the Arizona Mushroom Society will be returning to the White Mountains of eastern Arizona on August 2nd through the 4th.

*** This event announcement may be regularly updated as we get closer to the event. For those who indicated they plan to eat one or more meals at the hotel during registration, you should be receiving invoices to pay for your meals shortly . ***

Please note that for this event, we are asking that every member of your party be registered by name on the "Guest" page, including children. We have not done this for past annual forays, but it makes planning much simpler. You can leave any fields blank if they are the same as yours or don't pertain to your guest. 

Also, please be courteous to your fellow members and cancel your registration promptly if you can't come. Once registered, if you cancel your registration or cancel your room reservation, there will be a $15 cancellation fee. No lodging refunds can be issued after July 28.

We are pleased to announce that the foray mycologist will be Noah Siegel, author and award-winning photographer. Along with Christian Schwartz (who will not be attending this year), Noah is the author of the highly-regarded new guidebook Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast.

This book is exceptionally valuable for anyone who hunts in California or the Northwest, but even those of us who never leave Arizona will find it very useful, as we share many of the same species.

In addition to his book, Noah is one of the premier mushroom photographers in the nation. His work has appeared in FUNGI magazine and Mushroom: The Journal of Wild Mushrooming, and he has lectured extensively across America. He serves as a trustee for the North East Mycological Federation and has studied fungi throughout North America, New Zealand, and Australia.

Also attending this year, for the third time, will be Chad Hyatt, professional chef and mushroom fanatic. He is the author of the recent well-received cookbook The Mushroom Hunter's Kitchen, and will show us more of his fantastic recipes, with a particular goal of teaching us how to make gourmet masterpieces from some of the less prized but more common species of fungi that we find.

Last but not least we will be learning from Alissa Allen on dyeing materials with mycopigments. Alissa has been sharing her passion for mushroom and lichen dyes and collaborating with other dyers for over 15 years. She has written articles for Mycopigments.com, the Fibershed blog and FUNGI Magazine, and created two active discussion groups: Mushroom and Lichen Dyers United and the Mushroom Dyers Trading Post. Alissa will be providing a one hour presentation during which a dye demo and scarf dyeing station will concurrently run. Alissa will also be a foray leader to share her vast knowledge and experience of fungi.

FORAY SCHEDULE:

Friday, Aug. 2nd

• 3:00-5:30 pm: Registration/Reception, Sunrise Park Hotel Lobby
• 5:30-7:00 pm: Dinner, Sunrise Park Hotel Restaurant
• 6:00 - 7:00 pm: Dye demo setup, scarfs on sale
• 7:00-8:30 pm: Mycopigments presentation and demo with Alissa Allen, Large upstairs conf room
• 8:30 pm-???: Social Hour, Sunrise Park Hotel Bar

• 7:00-8:30 am: Breakfast Buffet, Sunrise Park Hotel Restaurant
• 8:30 am: Pick up box lunches, Sunrise Park Hotel Restaurant 
• 9:00 am-4:00 pm: All Day Forays, location TBD
• 9:00 am-11:30 am: Morning Forays, location TBD
• 9:00 am-11:30 am: Citizen Science Group- Identification and Vouchering Foray, Terri Clements/Noah Siegel, location TBD
• 11:30 am-1:00 pm: Lunch/free time (for those not on all-day forays) 
• 1:00-4:00 pm: Afternoon Forays, location TBD
• 1:00-4:00 pm: Citizen Science group -Identification and Vouchering Foray, Terri Clements/Noah Siegel, Location TBD
• 4:00-5:30 pm: Cooking demo, Chad Hyatt, Sunrise Park Hotel, Large Conference Room
• 5:30-7:30 pm: AMS Community Dinner, Sunrise Park Hotel Restaurant 
• 7:30 pm - Silent auction bidding ends
• 7:30-9:00 pm: Keynote Presentation, "Under Pressure: Evolutionary Oddities in the Fungal World", Noah Siegel - Sunrise Park Hotel, Large Conference Room
• 9:00 pm- Silent auction and raffle winner announcements: Social Hour, Sunrise Park Hotel Bar

Sunday, Aug 4th

• 7:00-8:30 am: Breakfast buffet, Sunrise Park Hotel Restaurant
  
• 9:00-11:30: Foray wrap-up with identifications and table talk, Sunrise Park Hotel, specimen room
• 11:30-12:00 Cleanup
• 12:00-3:00 Afternoon forays, location TBD

FORAY DESTINATION: Our forays will take place on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona, by special use permit. 

FORAY MEETING PLACE: Parking lot of Sunrise Park Hotel, near Greer, Arizona. 

Half-day forays will meet in the parking lot of the hotel, on the side nearest the highway, and depart first. All-day forays will meet on the lake side of the parking lot, and depart last.

FORAY CAPTAINS: Chris May, Mike Dechter, Bill Warner, Terri Clements, and possibly others, as needed.

MYCOLOGY SKILL LEVEL: General/All

THEME: Education, Identification, Edibles

PHYSICAL FITNESS LEVEL: Gentle. You should be able to walk a mile or two on flat ground or shallow slopes at 9000 feet of altitude.

VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS: Any vehicle will do, but high ground clearance is recommended. Most forays will be accessible by any vehicle. Without a high clearance vehicle, some all day forays will be unavailable. We will be encouraging carpooling, so if your vehicle is unsuitable for rough roads, there should be a ride available. 

LODGING: AMS has arranged for a discounted block of rooms at Sunrise Park Hotel, where our instructional and social events will take place. AMS will  be collecting money for hotel rooms and making reservations for attendees. Please make sure your registration specifies the correct room rentals for you. Guests will be assumed to be staying in the same room as the main registrant. Most of the rooms have two queen beds. We will allocate rooms once registrations are complete.   

To reserve a room earlier than August 2 (on Wed or Thursday of the foray week), call Sunrise Park Hotel and mention that you are with the Arizona Mushroom Society event. Room cost is $90 per night if you mention you are with the Arizona Mushroom Society. For reservations, call: (928) 735-7669. We have received note that the hotel will be open for business earlier in the week should you plan to come early.

There are several other hotels and motels in the Springerville/Eager area such as the Rode Inn, numerous lodging options in Pinetop area, as well as the Greer Lodge and many other lodges and private cabins in Greer for those who don't mind paying extra for more luxury than the Sunrise Park hotel can provide. 

There are RV parks at multiple locations in Springerville and Eagar, including the Cedar Court and Springerville RV Parks, as well as parks in Greer, Pinetop, and Alpine.

The Forest Service has multiple developed campgrounds at Big Lake, as well as the Benny Creek and Hoyer campgrounds at Greer and the Winn campground near Sheeps Crossing, among others. Reservations are strongly recommended. There is also plenty of unimproved dispersed camping along dirt roads in the more remote parts of the forest.

MEALS: Just this week the hotel if AMS could invoice participants for meal ahead of time so that meals during the event can be managed quickly without long wait times for paying bills at each meal.

Meal Costs

Breakfast (non-hotel guests): $10+tax

Bag lunches: $15.86

Friday night dinner: $23.96

Saturday night dinner: $29.01

The hotel has hired a new chef, and has agreed to work with AMS leaders to incorporate wild and gourmet mushrooms into Friday and Saturday night dinners. 

Thanks to nature's bounty and the generosity of AMS member, Erik Olson, we have enough dried morels to use with a cooked steaks and pasta for one meal. For the other meal, we have been donated several pounds of gourmet cultivated mushrooms from Mycopia that will be paired with chicken. 

You will be able to purchase box lunches as well as Friday and Saturday evening dinners at the restaurant.Please contact Mike Dechter if your meal plans have changed at what you indicated during registration.

Breakfast is provided with room rental at the hotel. Those staying elsewhere can pay for their breakfast individually if they come to the hotel. 

VOLUNTEERING: 

We can always use volunteers! An event like this requires a lot of work, but if lots of people pitch in there is very little burden for any one individual. You will have a chance to sign up for any or all of the following when you register:

• Foray co-captains: We need people who know the areas we will be hunting and can ride "drag" at the back of the convoy to help everyone get there, and back home if necessary. You'll help the captain with roll calls, looking for lost people, etc.
• Registration: We need 2-3 people to register folks when they arrive. It will involve 2-5 hours on Friday afternoon. This will include signing people in, getting them information, distributing name tags and possibly meal tickets.
• Volunteer identifiers: Knowledgeable mushroom hunters who are willing to provide basic ID of familiar edible and toxic species while on forays.
• Cooking demo helpers: We need a couple of people who can help set up for Chad Hyatt's demo on Saturday and then clean up afterwards.
• Silent auction/raffle helpers to assist Beth Bilodeau with our fund-raisers. She can use at least 2 assistants.
• Lunch bag assistants to make sure everyone receives their brown bag lunch at breakfast.
• Cleanup on Sunday after the foray. This usually takes an hour or two in the late morning/early afternoon.
• Audiovisual setup assistants for our presentations.
• General volunteer sherpas for any task that needs to be done.

If you plan to sell items at the event, please inform the Arizona Mushroom Society by emailing mikedechter@hotmail.com. You are solely responsible for the transportation, set-up, security, and removal of your items. There are limited places in the hotel that you can set-up a table or booth to sell items to foray attendees. However, none of the meeting rooms, hallways, or other common areas are locked at night and there is no security to ensure items left out are not taken. Most importantly any vendors selling items that can be eaten or potentially consumed for medicinal or cosmetic purposes must post an AMS provided disclaimer sign, which communicates that the organization does not endorse the product and that the vendor  assumes full responsibility for and risk of bodily injury, death, or property damage regardless of whether such harm is due to the sole or partial fault of the vendor.