Wild mushroom and berry picking in Oregon forests? (Bend, Corvallis: buyer, live)

[*anya*]

I've heard this is possible, anyone know much about it? We want to move to Oregon in the next few years, and I'm curious which forests produce this wild edible vegetation. We just visited last week, mainly Bend and that's the place that we are most interested in (well the outskirts of it) but the forests there looked pretty bare, closer to Sisters though it looked like it might produce something. When we drove over the mountains towards Corvallis the forests got a lot more lush so I imagine that that side of the mountains is a lot richer? Would I have to go across the mountains if I lived in central Oregon to go mushroom and berry picking?

[hamellr]

I was doing a bit of research and found that the laws have changed. In Oregon, you do not need a permit for less then one gallon of mushrooms. Anything more needs a permit: Umatilla National Forest - Forest Products Permits

For berry picking, you need to get a special forest products permit, which is available at any Forest Service Ranger Office for quantities over 3 gallons, or if you're going to sell them.


Be sure to check with your local Ranger Office, localized rules per a specific forest may be different. I've never been picking for either in Central Oregon, so I can't answer the rest of your questions. Although I can tell you that Huckleberries specifically like higher elevations.

[*anya*]

thanks! very helpful I'm very excited to be able to do this, not with intention to sell but to consume haha. I grew up in Eastern Europe where this was our normal activities in late summer/ early fall and I'd love for my kids to be able to experience the forest in that way too.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Learn how to find (native) Ollallaberry and (non native) Blackberry brambles where you now live (the Bay Area is full of them). Learn when the best time frame is to pick (generally July - August). OR is not all that dissimilar in this aspect. Besides the National Forest areas where you may need all sorts of permits, there are many alternatives such as city and county parks (which may or may not have restrictions, check locally) and private land with the owner's consent. If you buy your own place in the right location you'd need only go into your own yard.

[*anya*]

I do pick blackberries when I come across them haha, funny enough most people won't touch what they see grow out in public. it's usually not much though, I've gotten a few handfuls on hikes and such.

[Larry Caldwell]

The east slope forests fruit mostly boletes and suillus sp. under the pines. Higher altitude D. fir on the west slope fruits chanterelles from August until freeze. Burned over forest land fruits morels in the spring, both on the east and west sides. I have found buckets of morels near Ukiah. Low altitude west slope meadows and forest margins fruit agaricus, not all real edible, but many are. You will sometimes find massive fruitings of Boletus Edulis under the shore pines on the coast.

I'm not familiar with east slope berries, but west slope natives are black cap raspberries, elderberries, huckleberries, wild strawberries and a delicious but tiny blackberry that grows on a crawling vine. Most of the native species are getting pretty rare. The big Himalayan blackberries are an invasive species that are actually from Albania. They have mediocre flavor, but if you catch them early before they turn to mush, they are edible.

[*anya*]

what about blueberries? are those not native? I loooove chanterelles! my favorite mushrooms by far

[PNW-type-gal]

You probably already know this, but I thought I'd add it for completion's sake - many cities and counties spray weedkillers/herbicides on highway and road verges. To be safe, if you are going to pick berries, make sure they are WELL back from a road.

Also, if you are headed out into the National Forests, many, many roads have been closed this past year. Every Forest Service office *should* have maps of which roads are open in the area.

Over the years there have been stories of "wars" in the forests over mushrooms - in the fall you will find "mushroom buyer" tents along almost all the roads (on my side of the Cascades, anyway), pretty indicative of how popular mushroom hunting is.

[Larry Caldwell]

Nope, blueberries are not native, though there are some big commercial blueberry farms in the Willamette Valley. Keep an eye out in the paper for U-pick ads. In the summer you can U-pick anything for a huge price break.

[Steve Pickering]

I love Salal also. It's like a seedy blueberry. Chanterelles are plentiful from midway down the west slope to the coast. Right up to the ocean's edge in the hardwoods. Black berries are a weed in most of western Oregon, but tasty. Don't pick next to a road though. There are two types. Both are plentiful and tasty. No wild cranberries but you can get them freash from the farm. Several other farmed berries also including the worlds best blue berries. Wild berries include Salmon Berries (the first to fruit) and Thimble Berries.. We also have elderberries in many river bank locations, and wild straw berries. Both red and black huckleberries abound, but the coast produce most of them. Take a mushroom class at the local CC. There are a half dozen poison berries in Oregon.