Matsutake Mushroom Season Opens Tomorrow in McCloud Ranger District

This a press release from the U.S. Forest Service:

By Tomomarusan – This is the creation of Tomomarusan, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=600727

McCloud, Calif. – The 2017 harvest season for matsutake mushrooms will open September 22 on the McCloud Ranger District of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Permits will be good through November 19.

Forest visitors intending to harvest matsutake mushrooms on National Forest System lands must purchase a commercial harvest permit.  It is illegal to harvest mushrooms from the National Forest during the fall season without a commercial permit.  Persons picking matsutake mushrooms or in possession of matsutake mushrooms taken from National Forest System Lands without a valid, properly filled out permit may be cited.  Personal use permits are not available during the matsutake season.  Commercial Permits may be purchased at the following rates:

–       $5 per day/lb. with a four day/20 lb. minimum for $20, each additional day is $5

–       30 consecutive days (or 1 month permit) for $100 which allows you up to 100 lbs.

–       Season permit for $200 allowing up to 200 lbs.

All picking days must be consecutive.  In order to purchase a permit the harvester must be at least 18 years of age and have a valid ID. Permit holders are required to fill out the harvest log, keeping track of the dates you hunt and pounds you harvest.  Not doing so may result in the termination of your permit and/or a citation.

Permits can be obtained at the following location: The McCloud Ranger Station, Shasta-McCloud Management Unit, 2019 Forest Road McCloud, California.  During the month of September, the McCloud Office will be open six days a week (Monday through Saturday), 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Starting in mid-October the Office will resume normal business week hours (Monday- Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.).  Permits from adjoining forests are not valid on the McCloud Ranger District, nor will the McCloud permit be honored on other forests.

In order to ensure the sustainability of the matsutake mushroom harvest, each permit has additional conditions and restrictions which are intended to regulate the harvest. It is the responsibility of the permit holder to read and understand those conditions. Please refrain from raking or otherwise disturbing the ground cover when harvesting the mushrooms, as this inhibits or prevents future growth in that area. In addition please pack out any trash you may pack in. Forest Service law enforcement officers will be patrolling the harvest areas to ensure compliance with the terms and conditions of the permits.

Please note that there are special camping regulations in effect associated with the mushroom harvest season. There may also be additional fire restrictions in effect as well. More information regarding camping, fire restrictions, or mushroom harvesting can be obtained by calling the McCloud Ranger District (530) 964-2184, or by visiting the forest website at: www.fs.usda.gov/stnf.

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HOGRANCH
Guest
HOGRANCH
6 years ago

For seniors who have to live off of ssi, the price is quite dear. Was this part of the affordable care act? Is there a senior citizen discount?

senility is the new black
Guest
senility is the new black
6 years ago
Reply to  HOGRANCH

the discount is in the “don’t get caught” clause.

Freedom Club
Guest
Freedom Club
6 years ago

Must be 18 years old, pffff. I remember bagging my first matsutakes at age 10. Glad I can find plenty enough on private land.

spewydog
Guest
spewydog
6 years ago
Reply to  Freedom Club

Wouldn’t that be trespassing and theft? Or is it your private land? Sounds as if you are a mushroom outlaw.

local observer
Guest
local observer
6 years ago
Reply to  spewydog

based on the presence of sand I would say Arkley’s land.

Freedom Club
Guest
Freedom Club
6 years ago
Reply to  spewydog

HaHa I’m not the type trespass. I actually respect people’s private property. It’s my land and or people I know/have permission from. However I do like the sound of a fungi pirate.

Rusty
Guest
Rusty
6 years ago

How many idiot’s will get lost this year??

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
6 years ago

So the bureacrats introduce a mushroom collecting permit system. But don’t worry, a personal use permit is free. Now they have suspended the personal use permit. So you can pay for a commercial permit for personal use or be a poacher. The bureacracies keep creeping.

HOGRANCH
Guest
HOGRANCH
6 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

THIS SHOULD BE FREE, YOUR TAXES PAID FOR THE FOREST SERVICE EMPLOYEES WAGES, WHAT ABOUT COMPLAINING TO YOUR WORTHLESS SENATOR, WHO IS ONLY INTERESTED IN A RR. FROM NOWHERE TO NOWHERE THRU 3 EARTHQUAKE ZONES, AND A CA. FIRE TAX. KICK THE SOAP BOX OUT FROM UNDER ME.

Cy
Guest
Cy
6 years ago
Reply to  HOGRANCH

This complaint is from someone who has probably applauded drastic budget cuts to the Forest Service and then has the nerve to bitch about lack of service and costs of fees when they (the FS) tries to cover the costs of managing the damage that comes from mushroom collectors.

HOGRANCH
Guest
HOGRANCH
6 years ago
Reply to  Cy

NO SUCH THING AS A BUDGET CUT FOR THE FEDS, AS THEY GET BIGGER AND ENCOMPASS MORE LAND, MORE MONEY FLOWS INTO THEIR COFFERS. EVER STOP AN THINK ABOUT YOUR INCOME, IF YOU MAKE MORE OR LESS YOUR TAXES STILL GO UP. IF PEOPLE LEAVE A MESS. CLOSE THE GATES, HANG A SIGN EXPLAINING WHY. THERE ARE MANY HOURS OF FREE LABOR TO BE HAD FROM CDC.

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
6 years ago
Reply to  HOGRANCH

Let go of that shift key, partner.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
6 years ago
Reply to  Cy

How much, do you think, of their $6 billion annual budget comes from mushroom permits?

When you hear that some bureacracies are getting their budget cut it usually means their built-in, annual budget increase is not as much they hope, not an actual reduction in annual budget. USFS is part of the same over-bloated, top heavy bureaucracy.

Cy
Guest
Cy
6 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

Just for example, this year the USFS had to divert money away from numerous programs to cover the record $2billion+ cost of fighting wildland fires and yet the AG secretary has proposed cutting their wildland fire budget to $300million less than the current 10year average cost despite ample evidence that suppression costs are rising each year. Over half the annual FS budget now gets eaten up by fire which means there is less for everything else. The FY17 budget had a cut of almost $800million over all the FS programs.

What that means is that local districts often don’t have the resources to deal with issues like mushroom collecting and resort to permits to try and reduce the negative impacts.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
6 years ago
Reply to  Cy

Fires are cash cows. And, with the USFS, it’s not fire supression it’s fire management. If you have ever been on fires over the years it’s easy to see why the cost keeps going up… and it’s not because of the fires.

Again, how much of the USFS budget, local districts or as a whole, do you think comes from mushroom permits? Certainly not enough to cover their paper budget. It’s about piling more bullshit on the average person so they can impede them. This is another fee (of many) imposed without representative oversight. It’s a bureaucratic overreach outside of legal authority. A tax wrapped up in a “fee”.

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
6 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

This is a hobby in which people used to get shot over territorial disputes. I think the regulations are warrented.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
6 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

How do the permits do anything about territorial claims for commercial fungi harvest in the national forests?

And, by the way, stories of shootings have been way over blown.

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
6 years ago

There used to be a day when people had the basic right to forage for food. Hunting fishing gathering etc. Folks had the right to feed themselves and here we are today where you cant even take a crap on your own private or public lands without either paying for a permit and having the goverment litterally checking your shit , let alone feed yourself or your family. It is really depressing when you think about how free we really are even on the privicy of our own land .

local observer
Guest
local observer
6 years ago
Reply to  Antichrist

the problem is over-gathering. if everyone was honest and had integrity we wouldn’t have to even discuss this topic.

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
6 years ago
Reply to  local observer

No , that is not it. The problem is factory farms producing so much food that the population is bloated beyond what natural means can support and the goverment having to make a buck off of everything, even your outhouse. I can see a day where you have to buy the air you breath and pay a tax for exhailing

local observer
Guest
local observer
6 years ago
Reply to  Antichrist

no that’s not it. it is poaching if we are talking fish and game or over gathering for this. historically, Fish and Game clubs decimated populations with very few members, that has changed.

Cy
Guest
Cy
6 years ago
Reply to  Antichrist

Most of the regulation and rules arose because of problems including habitat destruction and rampant littering by people who moved into the woods for weeks at a time to collect and sell.

The abuse by a few has always been a problem for nearly every activity you can think of on public lands and results in more requirements and restrictions to keep the entire place from being trashed by the thoughtless few. The rest of us have to deal with these consequences because of the idiots who ruined it for everyone else.

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
6 years ago
Reply to  Cy

Well, the correct action would then be to catch and fine those problem people . Not restrict it for all others unless they can afford it. People should be able to hunt fish and gather to feed themselves and families without having to pay fees. Sport fishing is a joke, really? I know far more folks that fish to feed their families then do it for the sport, yet, they must pay for sport fishing, same with hunting, and now shrooms ? Next thing you know you will need a permit to pick blackberries it is really getting out of control.

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
6 years ago
Reply to  Antichrist

Dude, anyone can afford 20 dollars for four pounds of mushrooms.

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
6 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

Dude , that isnt the point. It is the fact that you have to have money. Most people do, yet there is no legal way to even earn it without giving a portion to the goverment. Then when you spend it , you give yet another percentage to the goverment. If you wish to feed yourself , you must also pay the goverment. It keeps going from birth to death. See what i am getting at ? At what point do we as beings have the right to surive without paying the goverment for the basic requirements such as eating and craping ?

Jaekelopterus
Guest
Jaekelopterus
6 years ago
Reply to  Antichrist

Imagine 7 billion people, all crapping at once, and no public sewer. Welcome to Somalia, dream of every anarcho-capitalist libertarian.

You are complaining that you have to pay the government 20 dollars to get what the free market would charge you 70+ dollars for. You literally can’t wait for rich people to screw you.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
6 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

Most of those 7 billion people do crap without public sewers. Most of the north coast craps without public sewers.

Why do we need to pay a fee, whether it’s $20 or $200, for a bounty that is provided by the land that the government holds in trust for each and everyone of us?

Lone ranger
Guest
Lone ranger
6 years ago
Reply to  Jaekelopterus

Same price as weed

Freedom Club
Guest
Freedom Club
6 years ago
Reply to  Antichrist

Again I find myself agreeing with you antichrist. Like most laws and regulations on the book they are aimed at the lowest common denominator and honest folks like us with good judgement and common sense have to suffer along with them. People that litter all over our beautiful natural lands really boil my blood though.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
6 years ago
Reply to  Antichrist

We still have that right, but we keep paying the salaries to have our overlords lord over us one permit at a time.

HOGRANCH
Guest
HOGRANCH
6 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

Exactly, We buy the stick to beat ourselves with.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
6 years ago
Reply to  HOGRANCH

Yessir. And you are expected to be grateful for their service.