Protecting matsutake fungi part of project

CRESCENT, Ore. — When the U.S. Forest Service plans projects to cut down trees and thin out vegetation, it usually has goals like reducing wildfire risks, selling timber or improving forest health.

The Forest Service had an additional issue to consider for the BLT (Bunch of Little Trees) Project near Crescent — protecting the matsutake mushrooms that grow there and draw hundreds of mushroom pickers every fall to pick and sell them.

"The matsutake mushroom is culturally and economically an important thing for people," said Holly Jewkes, Crescent District ranger.

During planning for the tree-thinning project, forest staff went to California to talk with people who come to Central Oregon to harvest mushrooms, said Joe Bowles, district silviculturist.

There's not a lot of information available about what the mushrooms need in terms of tree density or forest structure, he said, so the planners took a conservative approach.

Mushroom hot spots where the Forest Service will cut trees will come with a requirement that all logging take place when there's snow on the ground, to lower risks of damaging the fungi. The plan calls for the agency to help determine what makes good matsutake habitat.