Articles

Who is Chris Matherly and What’s His Gig?

One look at the front page of the Morel Mushroom Hunting Club Website, and you know that you’ve landed on a site filled with enthusiastic morel-ness. One click on the “Next” button below the graphic, and you’re transported to a page filled with glowing buttons that point you to anything from DNA studies on morels to a link for a Morel Progression Sightings Map. Who is the person behind this madness, and what does he really contribute to morel fanatics?

I’ll let Chris Matherly tell you in his own words…

I am an amateur Mycologist, and have been crazy about mushrooms since I was a kid. I started the Morel Mushroom Hunting Club in 1998, mainly because I surfed the Internet, and could not really find much interesting information about Morels. I did find another Morel club, and joined, and was so badly disappointed when I got access to the member areas, I decided to create my own. I have really put my heart into it, and now have about 1000 members from every US state and about 15 different Countries. I had over 1.5 million hits on my site so far this year alone, and it just keeps getting busier and busier.

Chris has learned that mushroom Website owners can’t quit their day jobs, because Websites like these rarely pay for themselves. However, Chris also undercharges for his information, in my opinion. You can snatch up all the information on the page offered through the “Next” button for free, including access to over 5000 photos and about 650 species listed in the species section with photos and descriptions. Heaven only knows what you get in the password-protected memberhip-only pages, but you can find out for a mere $15 US per year.

Chris began doing forays in 2001 in Tennessee. Now he conducts them in Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and he’s doing one in Yukon next June for fire burn Morels. He can also be contacted for speaking engagements, mainly on Morels. And, if you need a cook for your next meeting, he also does cooking demonstrations. He was recently asked to appear Travel Channel’s “Taste Of The Town.” Chris has many recipes on his site, and he produced a wild edible mushroom cooking DVD.

Slide-shows and mushroom DVD movies slide in under one of his talents as well, and he has more in the making. He recently finished a documentary on the Illinois State Morel Mushroom Hunting Championship (Magnolia). He contributes to MushroomExpert.com, and he hangs out with Tom Nauman from Morelmania.com as much as possible. It’s not surprising that Matherly was friends with Larry Lonik until his passing a few years ago, as Chris is just as obsessed with morels as Larry was before his accident.

Matherly’s involvement with the DNA study for Morels involves work with Dr. Carol Carter and Dr. Michael Kuo. Through his contributions, he was granted permission to hunt for Morels in National Parks in Tennessee. One of his biggest thrills was finding the farthest Southeastern Morel documented near where he lives in Warner Robins, GA.

If you’re interested in meeting the morel maniac Chris Matherly, you can sign up for one of his 2007 forays:

• The Georgia Morel Foray will be the first weekend in April - Booked up within 4 days of offering it in 2006.
• 2nd weekend in April is the Knoxville Tennessee foray - Limited to the first 15 entrants.
• Third week in April, plan to be in Western Kentucky for this foray - Limited to the first 15 entrants.
• Mid-June, try the Yukon Canada foray - Limited to the first 10 registrants.

Chris will open registrations in December for all forays. Right now, he encourages those who are on his mailing list that are interested in attending to send him an email and he will put them on a list. These forays book up usually within a couple of days of opening registration. You can sign up for his newsletter for free on his site - so go do it, and then send him an email to sign up for the foray of your choice.

Additionally, Chris plans to attend as many Morel Festivals as he can through the end of May 2007. He’ll be filming digital video and he plans to introduce a documentary on the Mansfield Festival and the Boyne City Festival.

Oh - and you might not be surprised that Chris includes other mushrooms on this site as well. So if you’re not a morel fanatic (how can you not be? 8-b), there’s room for you at the Morel Mushroom Hunting Club, too.

Images: 1) Website front page; 2) Morchella deliciosa, found in Georgia in 2005; 3) Morchella angusticeps, found in Knox County, TN on 3 April 2004.

© 2006 FUNGIFEST.