President's Message

Will 2006 be extraordinary or just another typical year for the southwestern mushroom-obsessed? Here's my
agenda in a nutshell. You decide. While recovering from the 2005 Holidays, I hope for lots of snow--in
the mountains, preferably not in town.  By mid-March, I'm still hoping for lots of snow--even in town.  
Now in late March with little chance of more snow, I'm hoping for rain (it's like falling pre-melted
snow--some of us remember it).  Weekendly visits to the mountains keep the legs limber and the eyes tuned
for every fir cone and dog dropping that might magically metamorphose into something exciting. April and
May come and go, and summer begins.

It will be dry--our summers usually are. Visits to the mountains are still refreshing, but the plants are
parched, fungi are few, and the forest floor crunches with each step. As the inevitable fires pop up, our
thought process is simple: too bad about all the smoke--I wonder if we should visit there next Spring.

And through all this time I'm agonizing over those busy few weeks in August. Mid month will be the big
NAMA gathering in Alberta. The return will be just in time for our Annual Foray in Los Alamos. I'll make
time in the days following that to lead a mushroom outing or two for the Mountain Club and Forest Service
folks. And before we know it, mushroom days will be over for another year.  Sure, a few things will keep
fruiting at lower altitudes, but already the thoughts have jumped to 2007, beginning with hopes for a
snowy winter and rain next April.

David Wallis
(for Apr'06 Mycorizon)