Mushroom walk planned at Creamer’s Field

August 1, 2012

Marmian Grimes

Debbie Carter
907-474-5406
8/1/12

Local mushroom expert Gary Laursen will identify specimens while he leads a mushroom walk from 2-4 p.m. Aug. 11 at Creamer’s Field in Fairbanks.

Laursen, a longtime University of Alaska Fairbanks mycologist, will provide a short overview of mushrooms and their habitat, followed by a walk to collect mushrooms. Afterward, he will look at everyone’s samples and identify any unknown fungi. Participants are invited to bring mushrooms from home to “stump the mycologist.”

No preregistration is required and the event is free. Participants will meet at the Creamer’s Field farmhouse at 2 p.m. and are asked to bring a knife, collecting basket or bag and a hand lens if they have one.

Following the session, Laursen will sign copies of the field guide he wrote with Rodney Seppelt, “Common Interior Alaska Cryptogams: Fungi, Lichenicolous Fungi, Lichenized Fungi, Slime Molds, Mosses, and Liverworts,” published by the University of Alaska Press.

Laursen, who holds a doctorate in botany and mycology, is a senior research scientist at the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology and director of the UAF Honors Program. For the past 40 years, his mushroom studies around the world have emphasized arctic, subarctic and subantarctic fungi.

The UAF Cooperative Extension Service and the Honors Program are hosting the mushroom walk.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Mara Bacsujlaky at 907-474-5741 or mara.bacsujlaky@alaska.edu.

ON THE WEB: www.uaf.edu/ces

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