Mushrooming Communities: A Field Guide to Mycology in the Community Forests of Portugal

Abstract

Forest community connections are crucial to ensure forest stewardship and sustainability. We explored the potential of mushrooming to enable such connections in contexts where these connections have been historically broken, alienating local people from forests. Taking the case of the recent devolution of a community forest (baldios) in central Portugal to the local population, we present a five-year pilot project to rework mycology from a mushroom-centered approach to a mushroom-in-baldios approach. Mushrooms were used as an entry-point to connect the forest ecology with the challenges of governance and community building. The devised activities provided an opportunity for people inside and outside the local community to adventure into the woods and find out more about their socio-ecological history, develop communal and convivial relationships and engage in the responsible gathering of wild mushrooms. However, the hosting of mushroomers to know, value and engage with the community forest recovery has constantly worked against the enclosure of mushrooms to provide marketable forms of leisure. The outcome of these activities depends on the relationships established between mushrooms, mycologists, local administrators, commoners and poachers, all operating within a framework that favors the eradication of resources instead of long-term relationships that sustain places.

Terras comunitárias em Portugal: entre o despovoamento e a perspetiva de desenvolvimento

“…Mesmo com a disponibilidade de terras agricultáveis e de pastagens, entre outros recursos naturais, os baldios sofrem todas as consequências do despovoamento, ao mesmo tempo que suas comunidades têm de lidar com a falta de pessoas e de políticas públicas para viabilizar a gestão do território e para garantir a preservação das suas terras, que têm características de acesso aberto (Beltrán Tapia, 2015) por não existirem cercas ou muros. Tal condição permite a exploração por terceiros, que muitas vezes destroem as áreas de baldio, seja através do turismo sem cuidado com o ambiente (Luz, 2017), seja através de crimes ambientais com a extração ilegal das riquezas naturais como plantas, pedras ou outros bens naturais (Serra et al, 2017). Assim, manter um ambiente de desenvolvimento equilibrado e produtivo tanto na agricultura como na pecuária e na silvicultura -ou mais especificamente na sua paisagem -torna-se um desafio constante aos compartes dos baldios portugueses.…”

Sustainable production of ectomycorrhizal fungi in the Mediterranean region to support the European Green Deal

“…Terfezia truffles are a natural resource with promising cultural and economic potential. Their cultivation can be a source of revenue for rural populations through truffle commercialisation or mycotourism (truffle hunting) and other leisure and well-being activities (Honrubia et al, 2014;Serra et al, 2017). Furthermore, their cultivation is sustainable and can be combined with other agroforestry activities (Morte et al, 2009), similarly to true truffle (Tuber spp.)…”

“…Sporocarps have been in the past and still are in certain European regions, an essential resource in rural areas, providing food, medicines and substantial income to some rural families and small companies, and are part of an increasing economic and cultural interest in the use of non-timber forest products (Miina et al, 2020). Creating new sustainable methodologies that value these endogenous resources can bring economic value to rural populations and be a strategy for sustainability, ecosystem conservation and decreasing the exodus from rural areas (Martínez-Ibarra et al, 2019;Serra et al, 2017). 2), for example, mycotourism represents an average income of 32 million euros per year in the Spanish region of in Castilla y Léon (Bonet et al, 2014;Buntgen et al, 2017;Martínez-Ibarra et al, 2019;Oliach et al, 2020;Tahvanainen et al, 2016).…”

(Re)building historical commons : Exploring forest commoning as a transformative practice in the Northwestern Iberian Peninsula

“…Yet, previous research highlights the low involvement or passive participation in many historical commons in Europe (e.g. Brown, 2006;Gatto and Bogataj, 2015;Marey-Pérez et al, 2014;Marey-Pérez et al, 2010;Premrl et al, 2015;Serra et al, 2017). Some explanatory factors are the steep decline of the traditional economic functions and the failure of policies to incorporate new potential functions and values (e.g.…”