Jessica Ross, a conservation biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, knew nothing about mushroom foraging before moving to Wisconsin. But trekking through forests in search of fungi was already in her DNA.

“I have family members going back generations who were mushroom hunters,” she says. “I always had a twinkle in my eye about mushrooms and [the Madison Mycological Society] helped me grow in my knowledge.”

That same curiosity drew Michael Marit of Sturgeon Bay, who is active with the Door Peninsula Mushroom Club, to mushroom foraging.