Mushroom Harvest After Idaho Fire Not As Good as Expected

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — What was supposed to have been a banner mushroom boom after last summer's big Trinity Ridge Fire on the Boise National Forest as become a fungi flop, as dry weather led to few morels and only sporadic pickers.

The U.S. Forest Service announced Friday it will no longer require collectors to get a federal permit for Trinity's 228-square-mile fire zone northeast of Boise after June 1. So far, a single commercial permit has been issued this year, as forest personnel found few mushrooms like the prized "fire morels" that often pop up in great quantities in burned areas.

Optimistic Boise National Forest officials moved to require collecting permits, in a bid to prevent an expected onslaught of pickers from damaging resources — or getting into fights over prime mushroom territory.