Introduction

The Scottish Wild Mushroom Forum was developed in response to the rapid growth of interest in harvesting wild mushrooms. Both picking for the pot and commercial harvesting are popular and bring people back into the countryside in an enjoyable and sometimes profitable way. The commercial industry, which has developed in the last fifteen years, involves five principal companies and up to 400 casual harvesters. Commercial harvesting is fairly important as it provides an additional source of income for rural communities.

Until recently there has been little mushroom harvesting in Scotland, and the traditions and widespread knowledge that exist on the Continent have not had time to develop. The Forum sees the enjoyment that people gain from harvesting mushrooms as an opportunity for positive action, and seeks to involve harvesters in the creation of a voluntary Code of Practice. As well as producing a Code, the Forum will seek to implement it in ways that will reach the largest audience. By involving people in the management of the resource that they use, the Forum intends to build a culture of sustainable harvesting.

Grants from Scottish Natural Heritage and Moray Badenoch and Strathspey Enterprise fund the Forum, together with a Millennium Award from the Millennium Forest for Scotland Trust.

The process

The groups involved in the harvest of wild fungi were identified during an earlier study (Dyke & Newton, 1999) and are shown in Table 19.1. Contact was made with these groups.