Pacific Northwest Fungi Forager
Mushroom hunting made easy
Favorite Pacific Northwest Mushroom Field Guides:
There are many Pacific Northwest mushroom identification books out there and I've bought them all. These are the few I recommend to anyone who is just getting started.
Mushrooms Demystified
This delightful identification resource by David Aurora is comprehensive, entertaining, and includes a high quality key. The author is from California but speaks directly to PNW often. His field guide All That the Rain Promises and More lives in my backpack.
This regional identification reference by Steve Trudell is organized by spore color, but is very accessible with our guide to Spore Printing.
Profiles of Northwest Fungi
A collection of "Mushrooms of the Month" articles published by Buck McAdoo of the Northwest Mushroomers Association which started in Bellingham WA. Each article describes a mushroom in detail, including photographs of most similar looking mushrooms in the area, making it an ideal resource for beginners. It also includes the nitty gritty in terms of taxonomy and microscopic observations for when your new hobby becomes a more serious passion.
This regional identification reference by Michael Beug has evolved the identification key with an all photo based approach that makes identifying mushrooms very approachable for beginners.
Connect with Others in the Pacific Northwest:
There are many Pacific Northwest mushroom and foraging resources online but these are the few I've found most useful.
An "organization that encourages research, education, cultivation, hunting, identification, and the cooking of mushrooms."
This PNW specific online pictoral key offers similar comparisons without focusing on edibility or adjusting the language for beginners.
I am constantly impressed with how current and high quality the regional mushroom information I find on Wikipedia. Please donate if you can.
This HUGE facebook group takes identification requests and constantly feeds you photographs of the mushrooms growing in your area, right this second, with the added bonus of exposing much of the identification process in the comments.
Developed and hosted by the University of Washington Herbarium at the Burke Museum, this site provides a collection of photographs and information for the vascular plants, macrofungi, and lichenized fungi of Washington state.
Another 1-person-show website authored by Michael Kuo offers extremely detailed and scientific keys that focus on identification (not edibility!) of mushrooms in North America.
While this site is not PNW specific it does offer identification requests and many observations to compare to.
Provides photos and descriptions for their favorite Pacific Northwest edible mushrooms.