This workshop is part of a series of Mycology in the Mix workshops that are being delivered across the Central West Region.

Our Forbes Workshop will be held at Northside Chapel on Wednesday, May 8. Details are in the booking link on our website.

Alison is an ecologist and professional environmental photographer with a focus on fungi. Her work spans both northern and southern hemispheres where she is actively involved in teaching, research and conservation.

Relative to plants and animals, the diversity and significance of fungi is little known. Yet fungi are vital in creating and stabilising soils, nourishing and interconnecting plants, recycling nutrients, retaining and filtering water, restoring environmental damage and essentially underpinning ecosystem health and resilience.

This workshop introduces participants to the diversity of the Kingdom Fungi and the basic principles of fungus identification, including fungi from the various local habitat types and those from further afield. In addition to their ecological significance, we will also discuss various cultural aspects of fungi such as edibility and toxicity and their use in land restoration.

Following an interactive indoor session around the specimen table, we will then head to the Forbes Urban Forest, adjacent to the Forbes Community Riverside Garden to search for fungi of interest. Bookings are essential for this workshop and may be made via our stickytickets booking link that can be found on our website or social media. Numbers are strictly limited, so I would encourage you to book early to avoid disappointment. I have already received a considerable amount of interest from people who are very excited to have Alison joining us.

If you would like to find out further information regarding Alison, who is author of The Allure of Fungi, Wild Mushrooming, and Underground Lovers: Encounters with Fungi, check out her website at www.alisonpouliot.com

This event is possible thanks to the shared work of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust and Landcare NSW under the Private Land Conservation Matters project. We look forward to sharing more fantastic learning opportunities under this project throughout the year.