Kolette Schneyder spent a recent afternoon sifting through a Douglas fir and ponderosa pine forest. She was hoping to find morels, a savory variety of wild mushrooms that grows in one of her favorite Central Oregon spots, situated at 5,000 feet and the site of a wildfire that burned several years ago.

As for even the general location of this spot — where she’s already scored multitudes of morels this season — Schneyder remains mum.

“I always told myself I didn’t want to be one of those secretive mushroom hunters,” said Schneyder, 32, who has foraged for edible mushrooms for five years. “But for as much time as I put into researching my spots, I want people to do the same because (that knowledge) heightens their respect for the mushrooms and nature in general.”

Schneyder, who lives in Bend, is one of countless Central Oregon mushroom foragers who relish the hunt as much as the prize. This year’s cool, dry spring means Central Oregon’s mushroom foraging season is coming to a close. Dry summer heat precludes the fruiting phase when mushrooms emerge from their subterranean membrane and produce spores. Regardless, Schneyder has been able to make two or three weekly forays to her favorite — and strictly confidential — spots in Central Oregon.

She said getting into mushroom hunting was a natural progression of her love for hiking and ecopsychology — the study of the relationship between nature and the human mind. Schneyder echoed other mushroom foragers in describing the endeavor as hiking with a purpose. It’s similar to hunting shed antlers in that practitioners must come equipped with extensive knowledge; in this case, of the fungi’s life cycles and ecological quirks. Schneyder studies a variety of maps — some of which detail topography, while others illustrate rainfall and burn history — and mycological websites to suss out spots that support ideal mushroom conditions. Often, the trek is rewarding unto itself.

“I don’t like following trails. I like to bushwhack and find new places on my own,” said Schneyder, who moved to Bend from her native North Carolina 12 years ago and tends bar at a downtown restaurant. “Solitude is something that is underrated in nature. It can be more spiritual and meaningful.”

While more than 20 species of fungi are commercially harvested from Pacific Northwest forests, morels and spring king boletes represent the most common mushrooms in Central and Eastern Oregon during the spring, according to David Pilz, a forest mycologist who retired from the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon State University’s College of Forestry. In the fall, valuable white chanterelle and matsutake mushrooms sprout in Central Oregon’s mixed conifer forests.

Pilz, whose aptonymic surname means “fungus” in German, recently met with the Central Oregon Mushroom Club in Bend at The Environmental Center. In a presentation about morels, Pilz illustrated the life cycle of the “infuriatingly elusive” fungi, whose nature is relatively mysterious in the mushroom kingdom. After moderate summer forest fires, morels tend to proliferate the following spring because the burn introduces a thick layer of dead organic matter. In this scenario, the mycelium — a single-cell, stringy membrane that is the fungal organism’s true body — produces carbohydrates by digesting decomposing organic matter beneath the snow, Pilz said. This provides a flush of nutrients for the morels to fruit with abundance by spring. The relationship that “burn morels” have with forests is distinct from the mutually beneficial one other morels have with the root systems of host trees — typically firs and pines — in undisturbed forests.

In attendance for Pilz’s presentation, 30 of the Central Oregon Mushroom Club’s 100 mushroom buffs traded notes on ideal elevation. The group also took turns examining the half dozen varieties of mushrooms that sat in mounds on a folding table.

Linda Gilpin, the club’s chief organizer and resident mushroom identifier, said she enjoys solo and group “forays” — as hunts are referred to in mushroom circles — in the Deschutes National Forest along SW Century Drive, particularly at Meissner Sno-park. This ideal habitat runs parallel to the Cascades from Sunriver to Sisters, Gilpin said.

“It pays to revisit spots,” she added.

After the presentation, club members asked Pilz, who lives in Corvallis, whether the spring mushroom season was finished in Central Oregon.

“I think there are still some mushrooms out there,” Pilz said.

Earlier that day, Schneyder, strode through a forest. She was equipped with a wicker basket and a tree limb that she waved in front of her to ward off hanging spiders.

“I think I’ve given myself tennis elbow,” she said.

She soon spotted a hollow, violet-crown cup mushroom poking up from the pine duff. Here, she knelt down and blew into it, which caused the inedible fungus to belch a visible cloud of orange spores. Nearby, clumps of aptly named coral mushrooms elicited her wonder; she fingered their fine, reef-like structure. Schneyder will spend an entire day searching for mushrooms if she’s left to her own devices. During productive, early-season forays she has often filled her wicker basket to the brim. Wicker is an ideal container for mushrooms because it allows fungal spores to disseminate as the hunter moves throughout the forest.

Soon, Schneyder let out a shriek of recognition: She spotted the dark-colored, brain-like caps of morels, which can be easily mistaken for pine cones, at the base of a tall Douglas fir. One by one, she gripped a morel where its stem meets the soil and dislodged the cool, rubber-like fungi. Harvesting the mushroom does not damage the mycelium and is likened to picking apples from an apple tree, Pilz said. With a pocketknife, Schneyder shaved away bits of dirt and crumbly shaft portions before holding the morel to her nose.

“It smells oniony, garlicky mixed with a musty forest scent,” said Schneyder, who has collected around 50 pounds of morels (and a few pounds of spring king boletes) this spring. “Mustiness isn’t usually something you think of as a desirable quality.”

While this recent foray produced fewer than a dozen morels, Schneyder said she could have spent several more hours in the woods, but obligations in Bend cut her foray short. Despite the waning conditions for morels, Schneyder said she will continue to visit her favorite spots in coming weeks just as she did during peak season.

“Mushroom hunting is (an extension) of my already wandering nature,” Schneyder said. “Even before foraging, I enjoyed exploring and wandering in nature, rather than necessarily hiking trails. When you’re hiking a trail, you know there’s something scenic at the end. And that’s enjoyable and valuable, but there is something about the solitude and the discovery. When you’re off-trail and autonomous, the experience is that much more your own.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7816, pmadsen@bendbulletin.com

What to know before you go

Central Oregon national forests require permits for mushroom hunting.

In the Deschutes National Forest, a free-use permit allows the free collecting of two gallons of mushrooms each day for 10 days per calendar year. Individuals can purchase a year-round permit for $100.

In the Ochoco National Forest, mushroom hunters must have a mushroom permit. Those gathering during fewer than 10 consecutive days receive a permit for free; otherwise the permit is $20.