Ecology and Management of Commercially Harvested Chanterelle Mushrooms

During the last two decades, the chanterelle mushroom harvest from Pacific Northwest forests has become a multimillion dollar industry, yet managers, harvesters, and scientists lack a current synthesis of information about chanterelles. We define chanterelles and then discuss North American species, their place among chanterelle species around the world, international markets for chanterelles, our current understanding of the organism, reasons for declining production in parts of Europe, and efforts to cultivate chanterelles. Shifting focus back to chanterelles of the Pacific Northwest, we describe our species, regional forest management issues, recent studies, and future research and monitoring needed to sustain this prized resource.