Sunfish Lake Park Mushroom Survey

Volunteers from the Minnesota Mycological Society will be in Sunfish Lake Park gathering and cataloguing specimens for a survey of the fungal life in Sunfish Lake Park. Over the years, the SMINC has taken part in surveys of aquatic life, invasive species, and insects that reside in the park (to name a few). This is the first time for a mushroom survey! Field work will begin at 10 a.m. and last for about two hours. After that, the MMS Funga Scientific Committee will use our facility to catalogue their finds. Volunteers are welcome to collect, or just observe the process–Society members are happy to talk about the process with curious members of the public, young and old. The MMS Funga Scientific Committee is the club’s citizen science working group. Members voucher and sequence specimens for the permanent scientific record, document foray finds, report them to local bodies, and feed data to iNaturalist, MycoPortal, and the Bell Museum Fungarium. The committee has roughly 65 active contributors and has cataloged more than 400 specimens to date. In 2025 alone, members located three species on the national most-wanted fungi list and recorded a first-of-its-kind record in Minnesota of a rare underground-fruiting species.