Creek Explorations: A Fun Day with a Fungi

There is so much to see this time of year along Lagunitas Creek and its tributaries! Endangered coho salmon are jostling for territories, making pairs, spawning, and even perishing before our eyes. The drama is non-stop! Coho are splashing, bird song fills the air, and the recycling of the dead and dying organisms is taking a huge leap forward as fungus fruit, spread, and display their oft-hidden glory!

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When coho salmon spawn and die, their carcasses decay and feed the watershed - dozens of birds and mammals eat them, plants and trees absorb their nutrients, and even their bones become part of another form of life when they are consumed or decayed. When trees fall, there is one major group of organisms that take over to recycle them and give new life to the tough cellulose that keeps them standing tall during their lifetimes - that group is the kingdom of fungus! Next time you are hiking along the creek at the Leo Cronin Viewing area, I challenge you to take to break free of the amazing coho drama in front of you and look behind you, under the trees and shrubs, in the decaying duff, and see for yourself the amazing diversity and beauty of our fungal friends. Their role in the ecosystem is critical and oh so under-appreciated! Here's a few I stopped to admire along the way, enjoy!