The start of the matsutake mushroom-picking season used to mean a mob scene at the Crescent Ranger District office.

In the mid-1990s, when the Central Oregon woods became a prime source for the fungus popular in Japan, prices per pound were way up, and so was the number of people picking the mushrooms and selling them to buyers at the end of each day.

“We were in the hundreds (of dollars) per pound,” said Tami Kerr, natural resources operation team leader for the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District of the Deschutes National Forest. “And now 20 (dollars per pound) could be a good night.”

Prices last year ranged from $8 per pound to $20 per pound depending on the day, according to Tim Foley, natural resource team leader at the Crescent Ranger District. Over the past five years the number of permits sold has dropped from 366 in 2008 to 148 last year.

Permits for matsutake picking go on sale today for the Deschutes, Fremont-Winema, Umpqua and Willamette national forests.

The ranger district offices in Crescent and Chemult will open early, at 6:30 a.m., throughout the week for early-rising pickers looking to grab a commercial permit. A three-day permit costs $24; a 31-day, half-season permit costs $100; and a 62-day, full-season permit costs $200. The U.S. Forest Service is running the season until Nov. 3.

Many of the pickers are originally from Southeast Asia or Latin America and stay in large public or private camps or motels near the two small forest towns, according to The Bulletin archives.

Crescent and Chemult were at the center of the matsutake boom of the mid-1990s, a result of diminished amounts elsewhere of the mushrooms that grow naturally in the Central Oregon woods. The Crescent Ranger District office alone used to sell thousands of permits.

At the height of the matsutake boom, there would often be 50 to 100 cars, and a line of pickers waiting to get permits, outside the Crescent Ranger District office on opening day. Today, Foley said the line should be much shorter.

“The past two years, it has been way down since the heyday,” he said.

Demand for matsutake mushrooms continues in Japan because the fungus is a delicacy there. Kerr said the mushroom has cultural significance and is given as a gift.

But the availability of the mushrooms has changed.

“There is matsutake all the way from Mexico to Canada,” said Kerr, who used to work at the Crescent Ranger District. The district is in the Deschutes forest.

Pickers now start collecting the mushrooms earlier in the year in Canada and work their way south. Whether they have much interest in the Central Oregon mushrooms depends on how well they do in the northern woods.

Permit sales are dropping

The number of matsutake mushroom permits sold each season by the Crescent Ranger District has continued to drop over the past five years.

2008 — 366

2009 — 337

2010 — 290

2011 — 221

2012 — 148

Source: Deschutes National Forest

To purchase a permit

Commercial permits to harvest matsutake mushrooms in the Deschutes, Fremont-Winema, Umpqua and Willamette national forests go on sale today. Permits cost:

• $24 for a three-day permit; $8 for additional days

• $100 for a 31-day, half-season permit

• $200 for a 62-day, full-season permit

Pickers must be 18 years or older and have a valid ID.

For more information,

call the Crescent Ranger District at 541-433-3200.