# 3 accused of taking park mushrooms



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

3 accused of taking park mushrooms 

By MICHAEL JAMISON, Of the Missoulian 

http://www.billingsgazette.com/inde...2004/05/13/build/state/55-morel-mushrooms.inc

WEST GLACIER - Three Troy men were stopped Monday with 210 pounds of illegal mushrooms in Glacier National Park. 

Charles Ekstedt, 34, and Mark Kelso, 43, also were cited for carrying loaded weapons in the park. 

They had been picking wild morel mushrooms with Kevin Kelso, 18, in an area of Glacier burned by last summer's Robert fire, said park spokesperson Amy Vanderbilt. 

Last season's fires created fertile ground for a bumper crop of morels, which sell for nearly $5 per pound. While picking is allowed with a permit on adjacent national forest land, harvest is illegal in the park. 

The men face fines of up to $5,000 and jail sentences of up to six months for each count involving the mushrooms and the guns. 

According to Vanderbilt, the park's backcountry is largely managed as wilderness, and the ban on mushroom picking reflects a policy aimed at allowing natural processes of forest evolution, including the post-fire morel habitat. The fungi are an important post-fire food for several animals and birds, she said, and are integral to supporting the burned soil. 

Rangers will scatter the confiscated mushrooms and their spores back into the park, she said, and will continue to patrol for illegal pickers.


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## snakebit67 (Oct 18, 2003)

These guys have no morels


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## trout (Jan 17, 2000)

> Rangers will scatter the confiscated mushrooms and their spores back into the park, she said, and will continue to patrol for illegal pickers.


And Morels will be fried in their kitchen every night this week!


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## StumpJumper (Nov 13, 2001)

What a crock of digested morels!


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## krt (Nov 5, 2001)

Yeah, dump them back in the woods. Just like the contraband that got confiscated when I was a young lad. And selling for $5 a pound?????


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## mallardtone-man (Nov 20, 2002)

I thought they sold for more than $5....


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## funebonz880 (Feb 17, 2004)

Try 50 dollars near mesick


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