President's Message

You may have been wondering, “where is that Toadstool”—the newsletter that is. Well, it is overdue. I decided to postpone this issue in order to include announcements of all our fall forays and other events.

So a lot has happened since the last issue of The Toadstool in April--the morel season with forays at Elba, MN and Lake Maria State Park, the second annual BioBlitz at the Minnesota River National Wildlife Refuge, meetings with spring mushrooms and polypore lore, and a very hot foray at Afton State Park in June, and, most recently, the NAMA Foray 2005 at La Crosse, WI. More on those events is to follow.

I am pleased to report that MMS is steadily gaining new members. Our current roster has 120 members. I want to especially welcome newcomers—-you are the fresh fruiting bodies of our organization. Our old timers love nothing better than passing on their mycological knowledge and wisdom (e.g. “If in doubt, throw it out”)

Don’t forget to keep your camera handy so you can capture that amazing fungus and share it with the rest of us. The MMS Photo Contest 2005 is coming up soon. Members at our November meeting will judge the entries. Contest entries may be submitted in print, slide, or digital formats. Prints and slides will be scanned and saved as JPEG images, which will be viewed and judged in that format. Please visit our website, where you will find the photo contest rules and the entry form for downloading and printing. The deadline for the contest will be October 31, 2005.

I will be looking forward to seeing lots of mushrooms and lots of members at our fall meetings.

Ron Spinosa
President Minnesota Mycological Society

For more information or to submit articles for the MMS Toadstool Review, please contact the Newsletter Editor - newsletters@minnesotamushrooms.org