NORTHWEST TERRITORIES Anyone expecting to strike it rich off this year's morel season is going to be disappointed.

Andrew Matthews, left, and Brendan Matthews, right, stand with morels they picked on May 27 about 45 minutes north of Fort Providence. The two brothers started Arctic Morels this year, but Brendan said it's too early to say whether prices will be affected by the lack of rain or an influx of pickers. - photo courtesy of Arctic Morels

"I feel really sorry for people running up there (to the NWT) based on the hype from last year," Joe Salvo, president of mushroom buying company Ponderosa Mushrooms, based out of Vancouver, told News/North.

Salvo said his buyer, Frederick John, was buying morels at $7 per pound from his camp outside Kakisa on May 29.

"That was the price today, and we don't know what it will be tomorrow - but it will go down, I guarantee it won't go up," he said from his office in Vancouver.

In the legislative assembly that same day, Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister David Ramsay touted this year's harvest could bring as much as $10 million into the NWT economy.

Salvo is skeptical. In reference to a document Ramsay's department was passing out to potential morel pickers over the winter during morel harvesting workshops he said, "That (document) is the most laughable and scary thing I've ever seen in my life. Those numbers are not based in reality."

However, Brendan Matthews of the mushroom buying and picking company Arctic Morels, said concerns about pricing should all be taken with a grain of salt.

He was out near Fort Providence with his team when he spoke with News/North May 28.

"It's an epic game of telephone with buyers," he said, estimating he saw a few hundred people when he set up camp with his crew outside of Kakisa.

"If you ever want the absolute wildest ride of your life, start a wild mushroom company in the Northwest Territories," he added.

"Like the Klondike in the Yukon, nobody knows what they're doing but everybody's got these hair-brained schemes to make their fortunes," he said with a laugh.

Matthews started Arctic-Morels this year with members of his family. He said a lot of new pickers set up too early in the season when morels are half the size of an egg, still too small for commercial sale in most cases.

"People are already running out of money for food and gas," he said.

"Some of them have been out there for a month."

In fact, there is a sign posted at the camp run by Ponderosa Mushrooms warning pickers that buyers were not accepting small mushrooms.

John Colford, manager of traditional economy and agriculture with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, agrees with Matthews' sentiments. Cold temperatures in places across the territory really mean the season will start in June, he said.

"It's still too early to make a call," he said. "And speculation is wild. Give it another week or so."

Eric Whitehead, the owner and founder of wild mushroom company Untamed Feast based in Edmonton and Crofton, B.C., said prices offered for morels so far this year range between $3 and $12 per pound.

However, Robin Bourke of the new Yellowknife-based buying company NWT Mushroom Company, said he heard prices in British Columbia were similar to Salvo's quote of $7 per pound.

"People are anticipating they're going to come down," he said.

"But that's dependent on lots of morels. It's totally up in the air."

By comparison, last year pickers were making about $10 per pound of fresh mushrooms collected in the territory. Whitehead said the early state of the season as well as a lack of competition between buyers is why the price hasn't been brought up.

"A normal season would see the prices start high and then come down as the season comes down," Bourke said.

"But there's so much uncertainty."

Salvo, on the other hand, called last year's morel prices an aberration, based on an abnormally high world market value.

Also while Ponderosa decided to chance it by sending buyers to the territory, Whitehead said things didn't look lucrative enough for he and his crew to travel here.

"Just because there's burns doesn't equal mushrooms," he said. "There's much better possibility in other places that we know about."

According to both buyers, there are large burn areas in southern B.C., Washington state and Oregon with morels.

Matthews strongly recommended new pickers check out the GNWT's online resources as well as attend the morel harvesting workshops hosted by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment to reduce the amount of wasted time and product.

Colford remains optimistic, predicting pickers could make hundreds per day.

"On a good day, you can make $300 to $500," he said. "But we didn't guarantee people would be millionaires."

Salvo described the conditions in the South Slave as dry. He said if the area didn't get rain within the next few days, his company was prepared to leave the territory.

According to Environment Canada, a 30 per cent chance of rain was predicted for May 31 around the Fort Providence area.

- with files from Randi Beers

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