Lighthouse Park Foray: October 18, 2009

I attended an interpretive tour given by Terry Taylor  at the request of the Lighthouse Park Preservation Society.  Despite the cool, misty weather around twenty-five people attended.  We were an oddly composed group that ranged in age, interest and background knowledge.  (They seven year old that knew the latin names for all the fungi was a bit daunting)  We all huddled around Terry using his eyes to guide us in  seeing the forest anew.

Terry ambled along the pathways with his faded red back pack quickly finding and extracting examples of different fungi common to old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest.  He pointed out distinct physical features of mushrooms such as shaggy parasols and inky caps.  He passed around a mushroom grown on compost (the Society has been amended some of the eroded pathways with fresh soil) that smelled like cucumber.  At one point he chewed on a rather indistinct looking mushroom to test for a peppery flavour.  Once the heat was detected, he spit out the mushroom and reminded us that while taste is an important method of identification it requires chewing not swallowing.  I am astonished by the range of sense required for proper identification- sight-taste-smell.

As we wound our way through the pathways, I started to see some fungi without having to dog Terry’s heals.  I couldn’t help but observe the different postures and stances required to become aware of the plethora of fungi.  I needed to look more closely at the forest floor, the rotting logs and the rock faces which requires stooping, crouching and at times being still.    I also noticed how Terry was not just “looking” for mushrooms but was in fact taking in the immediate surroundings and conditions.  Which type of tree is growing in this location- hemlock or cedar?  What material is decomposing below the tree?  What are the specific temporal conditions such as light, moisture and  temperature of this area?  He is noticing an entire ecology- a series of systems-not just the fruit of an organism.  Despite this cultivated awareness, Terry still describes the unpredictability of this organism.   All of the conditions can appear to be correct and yet nothing is to be found.

Terry stopped at one point to show us a type of fungus on a leaf.  He explained that scientists still don’t understand of the spores of this fungus move from the leaves on the ground to the leaves in the trees.  “We can observe the gross results but not the micro processes of these systems.”