Galbreath Mushroom Blitz 2025

Galbreath Wildlands Preserve
10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Admission Fees: none
 
Register Here 

Wild mushrooms are indicators of soil and air quality, and support plant growth and communication. For the seventh consecutive year, students and the community will comb the hills of the Galbreath Preserve to collect as many fungal species as possible. Join us and build identification and sustainable harvesting skills while adding to our research database. A sister event takes place at Osborn Preserve December 14th. 

Leaders

Dr. Melina Kozanitas, is a vegetation data specialist at the California Native Plant Society and former SSU biology/mycology lecturer. She will be joined by Lisa Bauer, a Yorkville community leader and mushroom guru.

Logistics

We will meet at the entrance to the Preserve at 10:00 at 30720 Elkhorn Road in Yorkville, southern Mendocino County, off Highway 128. There we will form carpools to drive on the Preserve. We will get out and walk at various points on the 3,670-acre nature preserve to find as many different species as we can, learning how to identify mushrooms, sustainable collecting techniques, and how to add information to local databases with iNaturalist. Our research protocol calls for collecting, photographing, recording locations and transcribing descriptive information in order to enable students and community members to make correct species identification. We will eat lunch together at the Preserve, share and discuss our findings, then arrive back at the Galbreath main gate by 2:00 P.M.

The Preserve terrain requires 4-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicles, so if you have one and are willing to drive, please let me know.

There is a restroom available at the Galbreath Preserve, but no drinking water.

Participants must sign a waiver upon arrival.  All minors must be accompanied by a legal guardian or a group leader who can legally take on that role (e.g., Girl Scout group). Pets and smoking are not permitted.

What to Bring

Please bring sun, rain and insect protection, water and lunch. Shoes appropriate for hiking and layered clothing and long pants are recommended.

How to Sign Up

See registration link above. Each person should register separately and indicate if they are bringing children. This event is free of charge.

About the Center

Sonoma State University’s Center for Environmental Inquiry empowers university students to work with community members on the environmental challenges of the North Bay. Our mission is to create an engaged and environmentally ready society, one where all people have the skills to find solutions to the challenges facing our earth. SSU Preserves are open to everyone engaged in education or research. Reservations are required.