Have you ever wanted to learn to forage for mushrooms?

Give this episode a listen as Steve and JP sit down with Tyson Ehlers, RPBio and fungi expert- or is it ‘fun guy’, or ‘fun- gee’? Tyson goes over this and so much more in this fun episode.

They discuss Tysons background and how he turned it from foraging as a kid into a life-long addiction.

This conversation flies by and will leave you with a ton of knowledge about what makes our forests tick. (Sorry Taina)

Tyson is a forest ecologist and professional biologist from the Slocan Valley. He has been fascinated by fungi for most of his life, from his childhood foraging for shaggy manes with his mother to a university student’s natural curiosity in psychedelic mushrooms that grew around Vancouver, to commercial picking wild edible mushrooms such as chanterelles, pines, and morels. He has dabbled in home cultivation of various species and is an avid forager, collecting mushrooms for the table.

Tyson teaches wild mushroom identification and guides wild mushroom forays. His professional interests are now mostly focused on studying the diversity and ecology of fungi in BC and he has conducted numerous mycological inventory and research projects for over 20 years. His work has contributed to protecting wild mushroom habitat and bringing recognition to mushrooms as an important non-timber resource in forest resource management planning.

He has authored several mycological publications and co-authored a local guidebook, Mushrooms to Look for in the Kootenays. He has an extensive fungal herbarium and library of fungi photos that have been featured in various publications.

Tyson is an adventurer and used to spend his time flying hang gliders and white-water kayaking but these days he gets his thrills in finding a new mushroom or slime mould species for the area. He is most happy when he is crawling around the forest sopping wet with his canine companions, filling baskets with all sorts of mushrooms, photographing and documenting the biodiversity of British Columbia.