The 25th Anniversary NMMS Annual Foray will be in Taos August 20-23+ at the Best Western Kachina Lodge. Vera Evenson is our featured mycologist, and she will help us set up a vouchering system to better document the specimens collected each year. They will be stored by the Southwest Museum of Biology's Herbarium at UNM. Vouchering and microscopy will begin on Sunday August 23rd and will last until we finish, either the 24th or 25th, depending on how many specimens are collected and identified. The registration form will be posted on NMMS' website and will be included in the May-June newsletter. Only those interested in helping with vouchering will stay past the morning of the 23rd. We will show a short DVD during the orientation briefing on Thursday night of mycologist Cathy Cripps explaining the vouchering system.

We need a two key volunteers for vouchering: one to be the recorder, who records the information on the specimens and passes them to the photographer, who takes the photographs and then passes them to the dehydrator or display coordinator. It is a fine line to display while fresh but to be able to dehydrate before the mushroom starts to rot or to be eaten by worms. The key to doing both is for members to collect 4-6 of each specimen, if possible, with one young and others more mature. That way we have specimens to display and others to dehydrate for the Herbarium. Please contact me as soon as possible if you would like to volunteer for either of these jobs. I won't go into the details we need for the photographer, but will share those when contacted.

There is a competition to design a commemorative t-shirt. Entries must be postmarked or emailed no later than April 30. The winner will be selected by the foray committee and the designer gets a free t-shirt. One color designs are much more cost effective to print for a group of our size, so unless you can print the shirts too, please limit your design to one color. Please specify the color of ink and the color of the shirt it is to be printed on. Designs should include the name, date, and location of the event and incorporate the NMMS spore print/Zia logo. Write abqlibba@comcast.net or call 505-275-3071 with questions or to discuss job re-sponsibilities.

As always, I am excited about the foray and looking forward to seeing old friends and mak-ing new ones. Mushroomers are my favorite people! I continue to be amazed at how much I learn every year at the foray. Please volunteer! It is your foray and it will only be as good as you make it.

Libba Campbell

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