HOUSE BILL REPORT

SSB 6240

As Amended by the House

BYSenate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (originally sponsored by Senators Warnke and Metcalf)

Establishing a wild mushroom harvesting program.

House Committe on Natural Resources

Majority Report:  Do pass with amendments.  (16)

      Signed by Representatives Sutherland, Chair; K. Wilson, Vice Chair; Amondson, Beck, Belcher, Bumgarner, Butterfield, Cole, Dorn, Fuhrman, Haugen, Meyers, Sayan, Schmidt, Spanel and S. Wilson.

House Staff:Robert Butts (786-7841)

AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 2, 1988

BACKGROUND:

The harvest of wild mushrooms by recreational and commercial harvesters is currently unregulated.  Because of concerns that increased commercial harvests may deplete the resource, the Department of Natural Resources in 1985 organized an advisory group to study wild mushroom harvest on state-owned land.  The advisory group recommended the implementation of a statewide mushroom harvesting policy to include licensing for commercial harvesting, a per pound fee system, data collection, and research.

At the September, 1987 Board of Natural Resources meeting, the DNR proposed adopting emergency regulations to address the commercial harvesting of mushrooms from trust lands.  The Board rejected the regulations in favor of an effort to gather reliable data on mushrooms and mushroom harvesting.

The DNR has the current authority to sell materials from state lands, but under current statute, it must sell mushrooms competitively with public notice.

SUMMARY:

A program is established within the Department of Agriculture to collect information about wild mushroom gathering.  Mushroom buyers and processors shall possess an annual license ($75 and $375 respectively).  A mushroom buyer shall document for the Department of Agriculture information about each purchase, including the location of the purchase site, weight, location of harvest, and price.  Processors also shall supply information to the Department when the processor obtains mushrooms from sources other than a licensed mushroom buyer.  Annual processor reports also are required.

The Department shall encourage voluntary reporting by recreational harvesters.

Violations of this act shall constitute a class I civil infraction under RCW 7.80.

The licensing and reporting provisions shall take effect on January 1, 1989.

Revenue:    The bill has a revenue impact.

Fiscal Note:      Available.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Margaret Dilly and Lori Knox, both of the Puget Sound Mycological Society.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    This bill will establish a needed research program to determine if commercial harvesting of wild mushrooms are depleting the resource.  The bill is not the final answer regarding the depletion of wild mushrooms by commercial over-harvesting, but it is a good start.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.