WA State Personal Use Mushroom Harvesting Rules

by Sherwood Stolt

Introduction

Washington state is divided into numerous federal, state, local and Native American jurisdictions. Each jurisdiction has its own rules (or not) and its own way of publishing and enforcing these rules (or not.) Those rules also occasionally change. For example, Washington state law was changed in 2005 and the effects of that change have been slowly spreading through various districts in 2006. Some districts also regularly change details each year in response to conditions like previous year fire locations.

Generally the direct approach to finding what rules apply is to call the lowest level (district, area, park, etc.) manager and ask. Call during weekdays and not near the lunch hour and if the person answering seems uncertain ask for a supervision or someone that issues permits.

What to ask for:

• permit requirements
• limits
• seasons
• number of harvesting days allowed per year
• any other special rules

Also check the web pages, any pamphlets or guides, and the details on or attached to permits (these are all different from district to district). Some jurisdictions also have maps that show areas inside the district where collecting is and is not allowed or where recent fires were. In addition to the mushroom collecting specific rules, there also may be access limitations (roads closed to vehicles at certain dates) and special area closures. Look for notices posted at campgrounds and trailheads.

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About the Rules Sheet

The Washington State Personal Use Mushroom Harvesting Rules sheet contains as much mushroom collecting specific rules and information as could be fit on one double sided sheet. Note the table of details, the footnotes, the general rules and etiquette sections. Many web links are also provided. This information was collected as described above and will be updated at least each spring. Personal or incidental use means mushrooms collected for ones own use and not sold, bartered or given away. Deviating from that definition or exceeding the limits requires an educational or commercial permit (where allowed).

Anyone interested in commercial collecting will need to contact the district office, the local sheriffs office, and find the buyers. Permits, fees, and many rules are different for commercial collecting. Organized groups also need to contact the district offices and may need to obtain special permits.

The Rules sheet was constructed by accepting the district office's opinion as the most accurate on the assumption that they were the ones responsible for managing the resource (even if there was no apparent enforcement authority.) State law was assumed to apply if no specific rules were provided by the local offices or other sources. One exception was the Mount Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest. Those district offices provided inconsistent information and the enforcement office was asked to provide a legal interpretation. They referred back to the state law as being the authority that they enforce. That law does allow local jurisdictions to issue permits and include other rules on them (or in the case of the state parks another process imposes enforceable restrictions.)

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View/Download the Rules Sheet

The user of these rules should not consider the Rules sheet to be a legal interpretation and it is possible that one of the few enforcement agents may stop the user and have a different and/or more recent interpretation. The most confused offices were shown this Rules sheet and hopefully that will result in some confusion being worked out. There is an email link on the back bottom for comments.

The Rules sheet is posted in Adobe's PDF file format. You'll need the free Acrobat Reader software, which may be downloaded here.

Washington State Personal Use Mushroom Harvesting Rules

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