NYMS in 2025

2025 was a fantastic year for the NYMS. Yes, overall it was dry unfortunately, so not a very abundant year for fleshy mushrooms. But regardless, the NYMS accomplished a lot this year.

We went on 42 mushroom walks both in city parks & cemeteries as well as parks outside of the city. We surveyed our local parks in our ongoing longitudinal study of New York’s myco-diversity. On our city walks (and on an individual basis, when our members were “freelancing”) we recorded over 140 species of mushroom and mushroom-like organisms (myxomycetes, oomycetes) that had not before been recorded in New York City. Recording all of the mushrooms on each walk was done by our new club recorder, David Hutchinson. Our walks were scheduled by Dennis Aita. So many people led and assisted on these walks it would be very hard to list them all here… but thank you to you all.

In an effort to help our members identify mushrooms they were finding in the field, we conducted 29 online mushroom ID sessions via zoom, where members as far afield as Western New York State, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine and Ontario joined us to share their knowledge and findings. We also hosted 17 in-person mushroom ID sessions where members had the opportunity to show off their discoveries and come face to face with the mushrooms of New York as well as sharpen their microscopy skills.

We presented lectures, both in-person and online from Sigrid Jakob, Aishwarya Veerabahu, Cullen Taylor Clark, Aubrey Carter, me (Ethan). Lectures were expertly programmed by Maren Fossi.

Via the mushroom club consortium, which NYMS helps to facilitate, we brought you lectures from Ryan Stevens, Jonathan Gewirtzman, Jacob Heilmann-Clausen, Benton Taylor, Don Pfister, Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, Madeline DeDe-Panken, Aishwarya Veerabahu, and Eugenia Bone. Many of these lectures were recorded and are available as YouTube videos via our web site (so long as you are logged in to your NYMS account).

We organized and presented workshops, including a DNA sequencing workshop and a microscopy workshop.

We offered a weekend in the Catskills at the Soyuzivka Ukrainian lodge, organized and conducted by Paul Sadowski.

We conducted and participated in partnership events and walks like “Una Caminata in Español” with Arte en el Noguchi. With the New York Botanical Garden we joined their “Fall Forest Weekend” in November. And with the Hunters Point Parks Conservancy for “Scoping Out Trees and Mushrooms”. We had Pride Week event at Alice Austen house in Staten Island and a collaboration with the Staten Island Museum for their “Breakdown” exhibition. We participated in two Second Sunday events at the art venue Pioneer Works.

And in March, we collaborated with the New York State Museum to organize a splendid opening reception for their exhibition Outcasts: Mary Bannings World of Mushrooms. Many of our members carpooled to Albany to inaugurate the ground-breaking exhibition of the work of the unheralded female mycologist and artist, Mary Banning. Maya Han organized the opening and kept it running smoothly.

We put on a fantastic Fungus Festival with the Randall’s Island Park Alliance, expertly organized by Anna Efanova and Journei Bimwala, which included a group of presenters on the lecture stage —Alexandra Kirlan, Aishwarya Veerabahu, Lorraine Cruz, Ifetayo Harvey, Whitney Bauck and Lauren Wilson, Bruce Trigg, Aubrey Carter, and Hector Prudhomme. It also featured a microscopy presentation by Hector and Aki Fujiyoshi. There was a stunning array of food and arts and crafts, a splendidly designed t-shirt courtesy of Juli Sasaki (still available for purchase), and a display table with mushroom specimens brought in from afar. There were walks on Randall’s Island led by Matthew Rozanoff and Monika Stangel. The Fungus Festival included collaborations with The Bronx River Alliance, The Interbeing Project, Biotech Without Borders, Big Reuse, Catskill Fungi, Mushroom Queens, Cam’s Urban Farm, and James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center. There was a Mycocinema at the Fungus Festival curated by Maya Han and a dyer’s workshop presented by Bethany Beech. Fungus Festival was big.

We also disbursed two scholarships to promising amateur mycologists.

There were myco-themed film screenings during Climate Week organized by Maya Han and a viewing of Maria Sabina, Mujer Espiritu. We had a joint picnic with the Connecticut-Westchester Mycological Association (COMA).

We had a myco-book club. A book auction and sale in April. We had our winter banquet in March, and a Kosher Vegetarian mid-winter feast at Bodhi Kosher last January.

Aki Fujiyoshi published three issues of the NYMS newsletter, with the end of year issue in the pipeline (and it’s going to be a great one).

Andrew Cannon commenced recording oral history interviews with longtime club members and oversaw a group of volunteers who tirelessly scanned the NYMS archive.

And we had a new year’s day walk just about one year ago today.

And of course we couldn’t have done all of the above without the energy, expertise, care, and devotion of our very dedicated volunteers. Thank you so much to everyone who made 2025 a great year for the New York Mycological Society.