Gary Laursen to offer mushroom ID workshop
July 31, 2019
Mushroom expert Gary Laursen will lead a workshop and give a lecture on the wild mushrooms of Interior Alaska Aug. 16-18 in Fairbanks.
Participants will collect, identify and learn how to preserve wild and/or edible mushrooms. The workshop will also cover where and how mushrooms grow, basic mushroom taxonomy and current issues. One may register for an evening lecture or the entire workshop.
The workshop kicks off with a lecture from 6-9 p.m. Aug. 16 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Murie Building auditorium and will continue with fieldwork from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 17-18 at locations in the woods around Fairbanks.
A mycolologist, Laursen has studied mushrooms of the sub-Arctic and Arctic for more than 40 years and teaches mushroom identification classes around the state. He co-authored a guidebook to Alaska mushrooms, “Alaska’s Mushrooms: A Wide-Ranging Guide,” with Neil McArthur of Homer.
The UAF Cooperative Extension Service will host the workshop. The fee is $100 for the entire course or $20 for the Friday night lecture. Register at http://bit.ly/cesworkshops. For more information, call Leslie Shallcross at 907-474-2426 or email lashallcross@alaska.edu.