NYMS collab walk with NYC Parks, Long Pond Park, Staten Island, Sunday, November 29th

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NYMS collab walk with NYC Parks, Long Pond Park, Staten Island, Sunday, November 29th

Details:

Date:
November 29
Time:
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EST
Event Category:

Location:

Long Pond Park (Eugene Street Entrance)
Bartow Avenue and Eugene Street
Staten Island, NY 10309 United States
+ Google Map

Public Event !!

Genus Cortinarius; Long Pond Park; Dec 7, 2025; Thursday Azul Silverman.
Genus Cortinarius; Long Pond Park; Dec 7, 2025; Thursday Azul Silverman.

Join us for a walk in Long Pond Park, Staten Island on Sunday, November 29th.

The walk is open to the public and is a collaboration between NYMS and NYC Parks Urban Park Rangers. The walk starts in a slightly different location than our normal Long Pond Park walk, so please pay close attention to the transit details. Since the official walk lasts only one hour, NYMS members may wish to continue the walk beyond the end time. Information about this walk: the NYC Parks Fantastic Fungi Mushroom ID Hike is on the nycgovparks.org web site here.

Bring paper bags for collecting specimens, a hand lens, a knife, a tackle box (optional), water and a lunch. The club is fairly all-weather, but if the forecast takes a particularly nasty turn, we will cancel this walk or shift it to another day. Please monitor your email in case we do.

We highly recommend using the iNaturalist app (IOS, Android) to document the fungi you find. Find out how to use it here.

If you’ve never been on a mushroom walk with us before, here is what to expect.

Please be aware that ticks and mosquitos are very common in this park, so you will want to be prepared for those as well.

The walk

The walk starts at 1:00 PM. We will meet with the Urban Park Rangers at the corner of Bartow Avenue and Eugene Street (quite near to where we usually meet).

If you are coming from Manhattan you can get there via a combination of the SIM1C Express Bus and the S78 bus or a combination of the Staten Island Ferry and the S78 bus. Once on the S78 bus, take it to Hylan Blvd/Page Ave. (one stop beyond the usual stop at Richard Avenue). From the corner of Hylan Boulevard and Page walk two blocks up Page Avenue to Bartow Street, take a right and walk to the end where it meets Eugene Street. Taking the SIR to Richmond Valley and walking 22 minutes is also an option.

If you’re coming from Brooklyn your best bet is to get there via Bay Ridge and a combination of the S79 and S78 buses.

You might want to use the MTA trip planner to find a transit route that works best for you. And definitely check the MTA Service Advisory web page for last-minute schedule changes.

Please give yourself plenty of time to get there!

Walk assistand: Ethan Crenson: 347-268-5404

We look forward to seeing you at the walk!

iNaturalist

Document your findings

We are committed to documenting biodiversity and many of our members use the iNaturalist app to document their finds. This generates valuable records for science and conservation.


Bonus: expert identifiers will ID your specimens. We have four projects – one for NYC & the 5 boroughs proper, one for outside NYC & the surrounding areas, one for Slime molds of NYC and one for DNA Sequenced Collections – and we encourage you to join them. Instructions on how to use iNaturalist are here if you need them.


Trulli
Arachnopeziza, Elan Trybuch, March 4th, 2023, Cloves Lake Park, NY, NY

FAQ

Frequently asked questions
Are there Bathrooms?
  • Most of our walks start and end somewhere where there is a restroom.
What time does the walk actually start?
  • We wait 15 minutes for people who are late (unless the walk starts with the arrival of a particular train or bus). If you are ever very late or lost, text the walk leader, whose phone number is provided in the email. They will guide you to the group’s location.
  • We usually stop for lunch somewhere between 1 and 2pm though feel free to eat whenever you’re hungry.
How long do walks last?
  • Walks often last for quite a long time. Walks can end up being as long as five hours or more on a good mushroom day. But that does not mean you have to stick around
  • New York City walks feel free to leave whenever you have seen enough, are hungry or tired.
  • Walks outside of the city: You will sign your name on a sign-up sheet. Please notify the walk leader if you are leaving the walk early. We do not want to leave anyone behind in the forest, so we try and keep track of walk participants via the sign-up sheet.
  • Note that cell reception is often spotty or non-existent on our walks upstate
How should I prepare?
  • Bring a lunch and make sure to stay hydrated, especially in the summer.
  • Protect yourself against ticks and mosquitoes (insect repellent and long pants). Ticks in particular are a year-round hazard these days.
  • We highly recommend documenting your finds on iNaturalist, a great website and app that records your observations for posterity. Instructions on how to use it can be found here.
  • A loupe/hand lens is a great tool for looking at important details and we use them a lot. We will lend you one for the walk but you might decide to buy one yourself. A cheap triplex loupe (x10) can be had for under $10. The club’s favorite hand lens is a 10x hand lens made by Belomo.
  • Many walks in the summar and fall end up at a table where we spread out our finds and discuss them. Do consider bringing a brown paper bag for collecting interesting finds for that discussion. Fungi are best stored in paper bags, never in plastic bags – plastic speeds decomposition which makes identification difficult or impossible.
Picking edibles – general etiquette
  • Always make sure it is legal to pick in the area where you are picking edibles. All New York City Parks and cemeteries as well as some state parks and reserves have rules that prohibit collecting fungi.
  • As a courtesy, please do not pick in the areas of scheduled club walks in the couple of weeks beforehand.
  • In areas where it’s legal to pick, if you find fungi in abundance consider sharing them with others.
  • Do not over-pick edibles. Leave some for others, for the animals who depend on them and for reproduction.
  • Make sure the edible fungi you are collecting are in good condition and not buggy or tough before harvesting.
  • If you are not sure if a mushroom is edible, do not collect a whole bunch – just take one or two for identification purposes.
  • Do not ask people for their edibles spots, unless you know them well 🙂
  • When you first try a new species, be 100% sure it is what you think it is.
  • Eat only small amounts of a new species to make sure it agrees with you, since people can be allergic even to common edibles.
How may I be a responsible park user?
  • Be mindful of the natural world – don’t step on or trample wildflowers, or other plant and animal life. When an area is fenced off it’s usually because it is newly planted or contains sensitive flora and fauna, eg nesting birds.
  • If you are turning over logs and branches, put them back where they were. They provide shelter to a whole microcosm of creatures
  • Pick no more than one or two of a specimen – leave some for others to enjoy and admire. Spare beautiful specimens next to trails; they might just spark curiosity about fungi in the next person.
  • Consider donating to or volunteering for the many organizations that maintain our parks.
NYMS collab walk with NYC Parks, Long Pond Park, Staten Island, Sunday, November 29th
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