GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Truffles and James Beard and Psilocybe mushrooms: Oh my!

12-11-2002, 11:16 PM

(Daniel B. Wheeler) wrote in message . com...
(Scott Murphy) wrote in message . com...
Good point! I like "outside the box" forestry, especially when you
start to see it become "inside the box". Refresh my memory, because
its been awhile since my fungi and disease course,

I think that one statement says it all Scott. Dr. James Trappe calls
mycorrhizal fungi essential to healthy trees. He says it is easy to
find a tree in the Pacific Northwest without mycorrhizal fungi: "Look
for trees with no green." And yet even today in England, mycorrhizal
fungi inoculation of trees is considered an "infection."

I thought the same thing as I typed out the course name. Before they
separated entomology and fire into distinct courses, it was simply
called "Pests and Fire". While fungi and disease were taught in the
same course (1/2 semester dedicated to each), it was never implied
that fungi were disease, although I'm sure that was the implication in
the early days of forestry. Attitudes can be hard things to change.

I think you have a good founding in mycorrhizal fungi, Scott. What I'm
not sure you realize is that the field is changing so dramatically
rapidly that what you (and I) learned 10 years ago as Cantharellus
cibarius is now C. formosus; and Boletus chrysenteron is now Xercomus
chrysenteron. DNA analysis of fungi is dramatically affecting both the
variety and the systematics of the fungal world, and few people can
guess what new associations of fungi will turn up in the near future.

As you imply, the foundation is the easy part, continuing education is
a big responsibility that I believe many foresters overlook. Our
professional associations have many ideas on how to keep us learning,
but the responsibility ultimately lies with the individual.

I'm just a simple tree grower who hopes to leave a few live trees
after I'm gone for a future generation to enjoy. When I was young,
trees 6 feet in diameter were commonplace in much of Oregon. Now they
are nearly extinct.

And beautiful trees they are! I was on a fire crew that was exported
from Alberta to the Biscuit Fire this summer. We spent 17 days
wandering through some pretty nice forest along the Chetco River.
Brookings and Gold Beach were home, sweet, home

How far down the
road are you from there?

Scott

Daniel B. Wheeler
www.oregonwhitetruffles.com