Morel season comes with warning
Avoid mines, infrastructure and Yellowknife when picking
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Monday, April 27, 2015
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Though hype for potential income from picking morels is high, harvesters need to stay clear of areas with infrastructure, and the capital area, to avoid contaminated mushrooms.
The Northwest Territories has a huge potential for pristine morel mushroom harvests this year, says naturalist Joachim Obst, above. But pickers need to beware of potentially hazardous zones. - photo courtesy of Joachim Obst |
Joachim Obst, who helps pen the GNWT's guidebook on morels, warned at a recent information session that morels should not be picked near mining sites, infrastructure, settlements and places where there is a naturally elevated levels of heavy metals.
Mushrooms reflect the soil they grow in and will pick up heavy metals and other contaminants in the area, he explained.
Beginning around late May, pickers are expected to venture into the territory's many burn areas and emerge with morels. Buyers are expected to camp out along the highway and pay cash for the product, the GNWT told those attending the information sessions at the end of March.
"The NWT has got the largest potential of any region on the globe to produce clean mushrooms," said Obst. "Harvesters only need to avoid potential hot spots."
These hot spots would include around the Pine Point mine site and Tibbitt Lake, the latter of which has shown high levels of lead contamination.
In previous years, Obst tested morels between Whati, Behchoko, Fort Providence and Drybones Bay, south of Dettah, and found them all to be clean.
Last year a shipment of dried morels from the Deh Cho region was rejected in Europe after test results found DEET from mosquito spray and contaminants from roadsides in the mushrooms.
The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment is warning pickers to stay clear of a 50-km zone around Yellowknife for fears of contamination of inorganic arsenic, a by-product from Giant Mine.
"Arsenic and heavy metals have been detected in mushrooms, which would include morels, around Yellowknife and the surrounding area," stated Drew Williams, communications manager for the department, by e-mail.
That 50-kilometre threshold includes some burn areas from last year's fire, such as the one northwest of Yellowknife near Highway 3 to Behchoko.
Heavy metals, which include arsenic and lead, are high-density metallic elements that are poisonous or toxic in low concentrations.
The government's recent information sessions on morels aimed to do more than hype people up by reminding them of important safety precautions.
"The recommended (safe) distance from Yellowknife that we have been using in information sessions is 50 kilometres," stated Williams.
Eating a contaminated mushroom won't immediately cause side effects but can lead to a variety of cancers in the long term, said Obst.
Last year's morel harvest brought approximately $10 million to the NWT economy, with roughly $1.5 million spent in the Deh Cho, where last year's harvest was located. ITI officials are predicting as many as 2,000 people could come to the territory for this year's harvest.
