Join Alan Rockefeller, Mandie Quark and our crew of intrepid citizen scientists for a guided mushroom photography foray in Van Damme State Park, Sun 12/15/2024 8:45-10:30. Pack your camera, dress cozy, and get ready to find some fabulous fungi and learn techniques in nature photography from one of the finest photographers in the field:

Alan Rockefeller (born c. 1980) is an American mycologist who specializes in fungi photography, microscopy, DNA barcoding, and taxonomy.[1][2]National Geographic described Rockefeller as "one of the most well-known mycologists studying psilocybe species", citing his memorization of Latin names and his "near-encyclopedic knowledge of mushrooms on the west coast of the U.S."[3] Rockefeller, an expert in collection and classification of psilocybin and muscimolmushrooms,[4] has used phylogenetic and microscopic analysis to identify several species not previously described.[5]

Rockefeller participates in several citizen science projects by identifying fungi on iNaturalist, Mushroom Observer, and Facebook,[5] as well as teaching mushroom photography classes.[6] Rockefeller's iNaturalist images are released under a Creative Commons license,[5] allowing their use as photo illustrations for news articles and sites like Wikipedia. Rockefeller asserts that fungi photography is valuable not just for scientific documentation but "to get people excited about nature."[7] Rockefeller is self-taught, and the San Francisco Chronicle once described him as a "remarkably dedicated volunteer".[8]Mycology is an underfunded field that relies more than many scientific disciplines on independent naturalists for taxonomic extensions

Mandie Quark is a Molecular mycologist by training, Mandie Quark is a researcher, writer, and editor with a passion for discovering and DNA sequencing rare fungi. Currently Mandie lives in the California Bay Area and works as the California Community Science Director at Mycota Lab. She also volunteers her time as a Senior Researcher at the Ohio Mushroom DNA Lab, offering free fungal DNA sequencing for anyone in the world. Mandie tours the globe as a keynote speaker, photographer, and field collector, with a special side project of coordinating international mycology events. She is dedicated to building a community around fungi and documenting fungal diversity on the remote edges of the explorable world.