Collecting mushrooms is not allowed in Grand Teton National Park or the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway, park officials said Friday.
Due to last year's Berry Fire, there has been interest in collecting mushrooms in the burned area within the park. Recently burned areas are known to create ideal growing conditions for mushrooms.
Historically, Grand Teton National Park did allow for the collection of small quantities of mushrooms. However, National Park Service regulations do not allow for collection of mushrooms in the park. In 2013 the park updated the Superintendent's Compendium to be in compliance with national regulations. The compendium is located on the park's website.
Individuals are allowed to gather edible berries and nuts for personal use and consumption, limiting the collection to one quart, per species, per person, per day. The use of bush rakes or other harvesting devices is prohibited, as well as any type of commercial harvest.
Comments
What ISNT prohibited in the GTNP? Over the past 15 years it has become less and less of a pleasure to visit. They have basicly turned it into a "city park". Dont visit here looking for a great wildlife experence (Thats prohibited, lol). If you do see a bear, wolf, or moose.......keep on driving as they will likely immediately deem it a "no stopping zone". If you think you can stop in a legal pull out area,think again. You'll find they are blocked by cones or ranger vehicles if there is even a HINT of anything other than scenery to see. And as far as the volunteer rangers go.....what a bunch of crotchety old men in MUCH NEED of people skills. Yes, dealing with the public on a daily basis can be maddening. However, you arent doing the park OR the visitors any favors by behaving like tyarnts. Go back to being retired, before you do more harm than good to the Park System. What you want is people leaving saying "What a wonderful treasure this place is"!! "This is certainly worth my money to protect and preserve."
If the only park I had ever visited was the Grand Tetons, I wouldnt support, fight for, or care anything about the National Parks Service. Luckly I am a National Park addict and know all parks arent run as poorly as the GTNP is. All that being said....it IS still BEAUTIFUL, I'll give it that!
And my recent experiences at GRTE were exactly the opposite.
There are ecological effects from large scale mushroom foraging; thus, restricting collecting is justifiable:
https://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/is-foraging-bad-for-the-...
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/oct/24/wild-mushroom-foragi...
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/sep/23/plantwatch-simons-wild-m...
maybe forest mushrooms can be used as indicators for tree health. It is even ... indicates that the effects of meteorological factors cannot be easily .... body production of some fungi was adversely affected by thinning, while ...