I think a lot of it is closed and will be for some time. I know about morels and how they grow and am looking forward to Spring to find some areas that are open and not over-run for some camping and foraging, but the only things I know of are that far off. I do think access will be an issue and can only recommend to stay out of areas that you're asked to. These fires were devastating, I know several people ho lost homes and whose family lost homes.
It was nuts and I fear that because of all the other rotten things demanding attention from the public and policy makers that the whole thing melted into the backdrop of tragedies this year and the lesson that needs to be learned won't. Many forestry policies needed to be changed long ago, like clearing brush. They go through and cut all the trees in an area and turn it into a douglas fir farm called the forest. This doesn't act like an actual ecosystem and the lack of diversity leads to the growth of shrubbery-like ground cover that dies grows quickly and dies off annually, covering the forest with kindling.
I was target shooting out past Estacada last Winter with a friend and we talked at length about how the whole place was gonna go up this summer if the Forest Service doesn't figure their shit out. Not "I wonder if", but "this shit is going to go" Piles and piles of dead scrubby shit under the trees for miles. And go up it did. That was before Covid and the world stopped to deal with a virus. Add that kind of "forest" to new encroaching development and power grids that haven't been upgraded and lax management by bureaucratic, corporate-aligned authorities.
Shit, I'm sorry, I love Oregon and so may places burned this year where I camp regularly, several which I had been too within weeks or months of their destruction, like Eagle Creek. It chokes me up. Not a forest fire, that happens, but a rampant out-of-control monster taking lives and homes and memories was caused all because of mismanagement and developer greed.
So, yeah, anyway it should be an epic morel Spring! The F.S. does good shit too, and they have burn maps online you can check out, real-time and historic by date. Sorry I don't have the link offhand but Google is your friend, ha. You have to wade through alot of data and enter information on the USFS maps but you can also buy burn maps from people who already have done all that and package it nicely specific to hunting online at a couple sites. Again, see above. As for now, I know the chants are really winding down and winter varieties like hedge hogs are starting, but as for burn-related ones, IDK man.Mushie season is winding down now, freezes are hitting down to low elevations at night.
So Fall season has peaked and forests are closed,don't enter protected areas bla bla- but really if you are intending to travel here from another part of the country just to visit, seriously consider trying to change plans until next Spring. Spring promises to be a great mushroom season again, if this bountiful Fall season has been; the one blessed thing this goddamn year hasn't stolen from us, ha! And if you plan on coming to an urban center like Portland, this is literally the shittiest time you could ever do that, like, ever. Everything is closed in the city basically. You can get takeout to eat in the rain. Stores limit customers strictly, with lines outside sometimes at some places. And I'm not going to start on the homeless camps, the certain criminals who've taken up the banner of protesters, and the police that aren't answering any calls except gun violence to show they are needed. This is Portland and other places aren't as bad, but as an Oregonian please come whoever you spend it with needs the money badly, but you'd be better off and have a much better time in the coming Spring. I don't even know if they are opening skiing or not.
-------------------- γνῶθι σεαυτόν
|