Girdwood Fungus Fair

We put the "Fun" in Fungus Fair

11th Annual Girdwood Fungus Fair Sept. 7-9th 2018

Registration for 2018 forays and workshops begin Aug. 15th, 2018 at Brown Paper Tickets

Fungus Fair is now brought to you by the newly formed Turnagain Arm Mycological Society.


More info including how to join and a schedule of club meetings can be found here.


Our Presenters and Foray leaders for 2018:

Rick Van de Poll


Dr. Rick Van de Poll is the principal of Ecosystem Management Consultants (EMC) of Sandwich, New Hampshire, which has conducted natural resource inventories for the public and private sector of New England since 1985. Dr. Van de Poll has completed biological inventories on over 300,000 acres of land, and has recorded over 1700 mushrooms in New Hampshire, including a number of undescribed species. He co-founded the Monadnock Mushroom Club in 1988, and founded the local Sandwich Area Mushroom (SAM) Club in 2001. From 1983 - 1985 he studied with Dr. Harry Thiers at SFSU. In 1986, he completed his MST at Antioch University New England, and in 1996, his Ph.D. in Natural Resource Management at the Union Institute. He taught Mycology at Antioch for 15 years, and at Plymouth State University for 5 another years. He has been on the NEMF Faculty list since 1996 when he co-chaired the joint NAMA-NEMF Foray at Mt. Ascutney. He is currently the President-elect of NEMF.



Steve Trudell


The Pacific Northwest Fungus Master is back! Author of Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest (a must-have reference for this part of Alaska) and Tricholomas of North America, Steve will once again grace us with his vast myco-knowledge. He has been identifying and photographing mushrooms and studying their ecology for over 30 years. Steve belongs to the Mycological Society of America, North American Mycological Association, and the International Mycorrhiza Society, writes for several mycological publications, and frequently serves as foray mycologist or invited lecturer for mycological societies and other nature groups. His research interests include the roles of fungi in forest nutrient cycling (bio excerpt borrowed from Timberpress).  Copies of his books will be available for purchase at the Fungus Fair, along with autograph opportunities!

Noah Siegel


Noah’s field mycology skills are extensive – he has spent over two decades seeking, photographing, identifying, and furthering his knowledge about all aspects of macrofungi. He has hunted for mushrooms throughout the United States and Canada, as well as on multiple expeditions to New Zealand and Australia. He is one of the premier mushroom photographers in the nation, having won numerous awards from the North American Mycological Association (NAMA) photography contest. His technique and attention to detail are unrivaled, arising from a philosophy of maximizing utility for identification purposes while maintaining a high degree of aesthetic appeal. His photographs have appeared on the covers and have been featured in articles of multiple issues of FUNGI Magazine and Mushroom the Journal, the primary mushroom enthusiast magazines in the United States, numerous mushroom books, as well as many club publications.He just finished, along with Christian Schwarz, Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast, a comprehensive guide for the northern California coast. Noah travels and lectures extensively across America, following the mushrooms from coast to coast, and everywhere in between.





Local Presenters and Foray Leaders include:

Sam David


Sam is a fun guy. He studied mycology at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse with Dr. Tom Volk, where he received both a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Biology. Although adept at mushroom identification, his knowledge base incudes molds and crust fungi, general physiology, ecology, phylogeny, genetics, medically relevant fungi, culturing, growing, cooking and eating. He has given talks and helped teach workshops in Wisconsin, New York, Maine, Georgia and Alaska.



Far North Fungi


Gabe DeGange and Allison Dunbar started Far North Fungi  in January 2017.Their mushroom journey began much earlier. They were both inspired to pursue mushrooms by a speech given by a famous mycologist at the Bioneers conference in 2011. Allison watched in the audience in California while Gabe watched remotely in Alaska. Two years later, Gabe and Allison would meet at Paul Stamets' Fungi Perfecti mushroom cultivation conference. Their connection over mushrooms grew stronger as Allison worked on a mushroom farm in Atlanta and Gabe dreamed of starting his own mushroom business.

In the Summer of 2014, Allison came to visit Alaska and see the progress Gabe was making on his business. After networking and exploring the great Alaskan outdoors, they decided it was advantageous to combine their skills and become business partners.Through much hard work, second jobs, trials and errors, the mushroom vision was realized and Far North Fungi was born. 

Teresa Paquet



Teresa Paquet is a fungus dye hobbyist who was first introduced to dyeing with mushrooms in 2011 and has attended many dye workshops since. “I enjoy the process and the results, which are typically a surprise.  You never know what you are going to get!”  She is a member of the Turnagain Arm Mycological Society and has assisted with dye workshops held at the Girdwood Fungus Fair over the last several years.



Kate Mohatt


Kate Mohatt has co-organized the Girdwood Fungus Fair since its inception in 2008. She is the Prince William Sound zone ecologist based in Girdwood

and co-authored the Mushrooms of the National Forests in Alaska brochure. She received her undergraduate degree in Biology at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR and completed a Masters in Plant Science at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT studying mycorrhizal fungi associated with whitebark pine. She has been collecting fungi in Alaska since 2006, with annual trips to the west coast in the fall to extend the mushroom season.


Christin Swearingen


Christin studied the potential for oyster mushrooms to clean up diesel for her master's thesis at UAF. She has degrees in Biology and Environmental Science from Oberlin College, and studied amphibian chytrid at Cornell in undergrad. 


In Alaska she has taught mushroom classes from McCarthy to Denali to Bethel, mostly with arctic mycologist Dr. Gary Larusen. Now she lives in Anchorage and loves to look for all species of mushrooms!



Craig Ziolkowski


Craig Ziolkowski is an amateur mycologist who started foraging wild foods as a child with his grandparents in Wisconsin.  Initially interested in mycophagy, Craig quickly learned that to ensure his harvest was safe to eat and possibly share with others, he must also be comfortable with the identification of the many “look-a-like” species.  After countless trips to the forest and numerous forays he continues to learn about and appreciate the fungal species of Alaska and the wonderful people encountered along the way.  Prior to arriving in Alaska, Craig has worked directly with applied mycotechnologies in the fields of: phytoremediation, soil restoration, horticulture, and fermentation.  More recently, he has been involved with several large anadromous fish and marine mammal research projects throughout the state of Alaska.  Craig enjoys sharing his knowledge with others and is a proud member of the Turnagain Arm Mycological Society, as well as the North American Mycological Association and the Wisconsin Mycological Society.