After suffocating COVID-19 restrictions, many embraced the call of the wild and the joys of foraging, but tightening Swiss biodiversity protection measures are infuriating growing hordes of mushroom-picking enthusiasts. The pandemic times “made people return to the forest”, said Jean-Michel Froidevaux, chairman of the Swiss Association of Official Mushroom Control Bodies, which regularly organizes training sessions for mushroom hunters and checks whether their foraged mushrooms are safe to eat.

“When you walk in the forest, there’s not much to do apart from look around -- and then when you look down, you spot mushrooms.” During training courses and picked mushroom checking sessions, “we saw loads of people who knew nothing about them”, he told AFP, during a five-day workshop in Leysin, high up in the Alps. Faced with surging interest, the association has opened additional courses.

“Since 2020, it has exploded. We hardly have enough trainers,” said mushroom inspector Frederique Clerc, as she accompanied a dozen rain-soaked mushroom-lovers, or mycophiles, near Les Mosses, a village high in the mountain pastures near Montreux. Jean-Paul Landraud, a retired pharmacist attending training courses with his wife, said interest in mushroom foraging was booming. “I came before Covid and there were a few dozen of us. Now there are 120,” he said. “It has become popular: everyone goes mushroom picking.”

Mushroom inspector Frederique Clerc points the drawing of a mushroom on a book during a picked mushroom checking session, part of a five-day workshop organized by the Swiss Association of Official Mushroom Control Bodies (WAPKO) in a forest near Les Mosses, western Switzerland. --AFP photos

An Amanita Muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita poisonous mushroom is pictured.

Chef Thierry Brehonnet of Restaurant 1209 picks a Geum, commonly called avens in a forest of the small resort of Blonay in western Switzerland.

Head chef at the 1209 restaurant Thierry Brehonnet shows a dish made with gnocchi, mushrooms, meat and freshly picked herbs in the small resort of Blonay, western Switzerland.

Mushrooms are displayed on a bench during a picked mushroom checking session.

A mushroom inspector shows an Amanita Phalloides commonly known as the death cap, a deadly poisonous mushroom picked for mushroom checking session.

Mushroom inspector Frederique Clerc (left) holds two mushrooms, during a picked mushroom checking session.

A mushroom enthusiast holds a mushroom, during a picked mushroom checking session.

A mushroom enthusiast holds a Sarcodon imbricatus, commonly known as the shingled hedgehog or scaly hedgehog.

Mushroom inspector Frederique Clerc (left) speaks with a mushroom enthusiast during a picked mushroom checking session.

Trampling on the soil

That enthusiasm has sparked fears though that all the foraging could have adverse impacts on biodiversity. There is a burgeoning awareness of the importance of fungi, which, with their ability to decompose dead organic matter and to supply water and nutrients to trees, are considered guarantors of the forest ecosystem.

The vital role of fungus is due to be discussed during the United Nations Biodiversity Conference taking place in Colombia until November 1. In Switzerland, several cantons had some restrictions pre-dating Covid on the number of days a year people could go picking and how much they could forage -- and now the rules are getting tighter. The western Vaud canton, encompassing Les Mosses and nearby Leysin, introduced new measures in July aimed at giving nature a break.

People can now forage no more than two kilograms of mushrooms per day, with picking prohibited in the first seven days of each month, and otherwise only allowed between 7:00 am and 8:00 pm. Vaud’s measures have triggered indignation on social networks, and some politicians have demanded they be withdrawn.

Bio-fluorescent mushrooms are photographed responding to UV light, during a five-day workshop organized by the Swiss Association of Official Mushroom Control Bodies (WAPKO) in Leysin, western Switzerland.

Chef Thierry Brehonnet of Restaurant 1209 shows a dried Heracleum Sphondylium, commonly known as giant hogweed or common hogweed, picked in the small resort of Blonay in western Switzerland.

A mushroom is photographed, during a picked mushroom checking session.

A mushroom enthusiast checks a mushroom with a magnifying glass, during a picked mushroom checking session.

Chef Thierry Brehonnet of Restaurant 1209 shows a bunch of Heracleum sphondylium, commonly known as giant hogweed or common hogweed, picked in the small resort of Blonay in western Switzerland.

A mushroom enthusiast holds a mushroom during a mushroom picking inspection session.

A mushroom enthusiast smells a mushroom during a mushroom picking inspection session.

Chef Thierry Brehonnet of Restaurant 1209 shows a bunch of Aegopodium podagraria, commonly called ground elder, he freshly picked in a forest of the small resort of Blonay.

A mushroom is photographed during a mushroom picking inspection session.

Mushrooms are photographed during a mushroom picking inspection session.

“Everyone finds it ridiculous... we are very frustrated,” said Florence Wyss, a retiree who started taking mushroom-picking courses after undercooked foraged mushrooms landed her in hospital. The Vaud biodiversity authorities insist that the measures are not about “stigmatizing” mycophiles.

For mushroom expert Clerc, the restrictions are a step in the right direction to promote respect for nature. But Froidevaux said the seven-day ban was “difficult to understand”. He noted that a 30-year study by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research showed that picking did not affect the amount or diversity of fungi. The 2006 study did however show that trampling the ground had negative short-term effects, and suggested limiting the picking period.

Pro Natura, Switzerland’s oldest nature preservation organization, also warned the influx of people into the countryside “can have consequences for ecosystems”, such as trampled vegetation, disturbed wildlife or overexploited resources like mushrooms. But “we are more concerned about sports activities, when they require the creation of new infrastructure, such as specific tracks for mountain biking”, the group’s spokesman Nicolas Wuthrich told AFP.