ENTERPRISE
It appears mushroom mania may be about to hit the NWT.

Glen Ekhiohina of Enterprise examines a model of a morel mushroom during an information session in the community Feb. 26. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Almost 100 people turned out for a series of meetings in the South Slave last week to hear about the money they could make picking morel mushrooms, which are an in-demand food delicacy around the world.

A bumper crop of morels is anticipated in the NWT this summer as a result of the extreme forest fire season last year, which is expected to attract pickers from all over the country.

"The expectation is this could be the biggest morel harvest in the history of the world," said Walter Brown, a mushroom expert from Yellowknife, at an information session in Enterprise Feb. 26.

It was the final of four meetings in the South Slave the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI) has hosted in the past week after visiting Hay River Reserve, Fort Resolution and Fort Smith.

About 35 people attended the Enterprise meeting to hear ITI's plans to help NWT residents find success during this summer's mushroom harvest by creating a handbook with detailed information on identifying, picking, buying and selling the mushrooms.

"It's not difficult," said Brown. "It only takes a few minutes to know what to do, and then away you go."

Aside from the booklet, ITI will offer workshops in actual fire zones from last summer, which would be similar to such workshops last year in the Deh Cho.

In the Deh Cho, Brown explained, buyers were on hand to pay $10 a pound for fresh morel mushrooms and a serious picker could make about $500 a day.

"Anyone wanting to do that can do the same thing," he said, although he added the work is difficult.

The total harvest in the Fort Simpson area last summer was valued at about $10 million, with $1.5 million going to local pickers and into the local economy, such as trucking companies and grocery stores.

Brown estimated there will probably be around 1,000 to 2,000 people coming from the south to buy and pick mushrooms, partially because many of last summer's fires were near highways and that will make the mushrooms more accessible.

Hay River's Bruce Green, another expert on morel mushrooms, said the harvest will not start before mid-May, and will typically begin in early June, and it can last several weeks.

While morel mushrooms can grow without forest fires, it is after fires that they really become more common.

"It's like a giant Easter egg hunt once you get going on these, and you hope to come across a patch," he said, adding there are a lot of unpredictable elements to hunting morel mushrooms.

Morels come in different colours - black, blond and gray.

Green warned of false morel mushrooms as well, which are rare but can be deadly, and made sure to mention there are other poisonous mushrooms in the area.

Even the edible morel mushrooms, if they are consumed raw, will make a person sick, said Green. "They have to be cooked properly before they're safe to eat."

Many people at the Enterprise meeting were enthusiastic after hearing about the the opportunity to make money picking mushrooms this summer.

"I think that it's amazing that the government has been going out to the communities to encourage people and educate them to let them know what a great opportunity this is," said Hay River's Kevin Wallington, adding he will participate in this summer's harvest.

After hearing more about the mushrooms at the meeting, Charish Fifield of Hay River predicted she will also be going out picking this summer.

"I will be, for sure," she said.

For Glen Ekhiohina of Enterprise, the meeting was the first time he had heard a lot about morel mushrooms, and he said he is quite interested.

Now, Ekhiohina plans to try picking them this coming summer.

"I'll be out there," he said. "Whether I find them or not, I'll be there looking."

Scott McQueen, who works on the traditional and natural resource economy with ITI in Yellowknife, said that, in the past, buyers from the south have brought their own harvesters.

"We want northern people to be comfortable with harvesting these mushrooms so they can also take advantage of this economic opportunity that's presented itself due to the forest fires," he said.

ITI plans to hold more information sessions in other communities in the near future.

In the legislative assembly Feb. 17, ITI Minister David Ramsay spoke of the opportunities morel mushrooms present.

"They cannot be cultivated in a commercial environment," he noted. "And NWT morels, in particular, are known to be of better quality, taste, texture and size than those found elsewhere."

Ramsay added the GNWT hopes to be able to advise southern buyers that they will not need to bring large crews of pickers to the NWT because there will be a trained, knowledgeable resident workforce to support the harvest of morel mushrooms.