Minnesota DNR's potential park rule changes get pushback from fungi foragers
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is revamping its rules for its parks and trails for the first time in more than 15 years. And while they say it's mostly to comply with new state laws and account for newer activities like geocaching, one big change could complicate forays for foragers and morel hunters.
Bag limits are up for consideration by the DNR, which means Minnesotans could soon face consequences for taking more than their fair share.
Right now, harvesting mushrooms and edible fruits is allowed if they’re for personal consumption. But what counts as personal use isn’t defined.
Anne Pierce, director of the State Parks and Trails division of the Minnesota DNR, says the goal of overhauling rules is more clarity.
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“We get a lot of questions about what [personal use] means,” she said in a phone interview. “We’re defining it by putting a quantity on it.”
That quantity is rumored to be a gallon-sized bag, but Pierce says the rules are currently in the drafting process and will be for several months. This does not affect state forests.
James Beard Award-winning chef, author and forager, Alan Bergo — also part of the Minnesota Mycological Society — was a guest on Morning Edition. He expressed frustration over “gray area” and what he says is a lack of communication between the Minnesota Mycological Society and the DNR.
“The Mycological Society is the oldest mushroom education group in the state at 125 years old, the second oldest mushroom club in the nation. And they are the experts.” Bergo said. “What's kind of troubling is that the Minnesota Mycological Society has always been a part of making regulations. And they are not being involved in the process at all.”
Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player above.
The Society says it wasn’t engaged in discussion up until its president — Peter Martignacco — sent a letter to the Walz Administration, complaining about the lack of their voice.
“Our members work with professional mycologists to improve their mushroom identification skills, build the mycological collection at the University of Minnesota, educate the public about fungi and assist the Hennepin County Poison Center in mushroom identification,” the letter reads. “As a party that relies on these areas as public sites for education, recreation, research and the collection of edibles, the Minnesota Mycological Society would be very interested in participating as an advisory resource in the preparation of the draft.”
Pierce told MPR News Thursday that there are now plans for a meeting between the Society and the DNR later this summer, but didn’t have further details.
She says the main concerns, and thus reasons, for limiting harvesting in state parks are an uptick in foraging and large group forays, disturbing the natural ecosystem, changing other parkgoers’ experiences, trampling, the spreading of invasive species — as foraging often goes off-trail — and removing too much wild food, like taking a branch along with its berries.
“Bears that used to use the berries, they're instead going to be trying to find the garbage cans,” Pierce said.
Removing any consumable resources is currently limited in state parks, and hunting and fishing are allowed, but by permit only. Pierce made it clear permits will not be part of the conversation around foraging; it will strictly focus on quantity.
“There's some similarities between hunting and fishing and foraging, I kind of see them as like three legs on the same chair,” said Bergo. “But one of the big differences is that nothing dies. When you pick a mushroom, it's like basically like picking blueberries, and they're going to come back every year, no matter the blueberries that you go and pick. That's more of a factor that the rain and conditions will decide.”
Pierce said while this is a greater overhaul of park rules, Minnesotans shouldn’t notice many other major effects. When asked about the use of legal marijuana in state parks, Pierce said the DNR hasn’t addressed that yet, but will before putting a draft of new rules out for public comment.
“I think there's a lot of disparity in some of the opinions here and we just want to make sure everything is science-based, and that they're working with the experts because we have always been involved in the creation of mushroom regulations in our state,” Bergo said. And we want people to be able to see our wild places as more than an inanimate backdrop, that nature can be something you can interact with, and it can make your time outside really, really rewarding.”
“Being a mushroom Hunter, just by the nature of what you're doing, you become a citizen scientist, because it's kind of like going out for a scavenger hunt,” Bergo said. “And there could be a Powerball ticket hanging out there.”
