Calling all plant and mushroom lovers! If you or your family would love to walk in beautiful woods and discover the riches of spring beneath your feet, this walk is for you! Join master naturalist Dr. Rick Van de Poll for a tour of a rich and diverse woodland in the upper Connecticut Valley region. Witness the delicate colors and fragility of rare plants, learn about the bedrock and soils that help create this rich mesic forest, and discover the fascinating world of spring fungi that attends the coming of warm weather. We hope to find squirrel corn, maidenhair fern, blue cohosh, jack-in-the-pulpit and some fungi (morels, false morels, cup fungi, early polypores).

Peatlands? Fens? Don't get BOGGED down in definitions of our most cherished wetland resource! This program will help you sort out how to identify them, and how to understand why they are so important on the landscape. Join Dr. Rick Van de Poll for an evening slide extravaganza and then a morning field trip to one of the most pristine peatlands in the North Country. Find out why 'Tolland' (Bog) Man was so well preserved after 2500 years, why bogs were so well mapped in NH in the 1940's, and why entire cultures have survived on the heat they produce. The unique flora and fauna associated with peatlands will be introduced during the slide show, and then discovered up close in the field the next day. 2-Days to This Workshop July 25 - Thursday evening slide show will last from 7 - 8:30 pm, and July 26 - Friday morning walk will extend from 9 am to 12 pm. Be prepared for inclement weather as needed, bugs, and possible ticks, although we will be mostly walking on an ADA accessible trail and boardwalk. Length of the walk is about one-half mile out to the bog mat.

This year’s annual northeastern mushroom foray is in Lock Haven, PA, roughly an hour and a half west of Scranton and two hours from the Delaware Water Gap. Ample amounts of Pennsylvania state lands surround the valley of the Susquehanna River and provide excellent foray collecting sites. This fun-filled foray is well-described on the web site, and will be attended by 15 professional mycologists and over 200 mycophiles! [See http://www.nemf.org/ for the registration form & information]

Located in the heart of the Adirondacks, Paul Smiths College hosts the very active Adirondack Mushroom Club which sponsors its own bi-annual foray every other year. NAMA forays occur across the country and this year we are fortunate in having it return to the Northeast after a 12-year absence. Paul Smiths College, the ADK Club and NAMA bring you one of the finest weekends of mushroom madness in the country! Rick Van de Poll will be giving two presentations and will help in the ID and sorting areas. Over 500 species are known to be found at these forays and each are vouchered and photographed for future reference and use. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to attend a NAMA foray in our own region! See http://www.namyco.orgfor registration details