Learning and RecordingThe aims of the Association are twofold. Go back twenty years and you will find that field mycology was populated by a very small number of individuals who largely believed that fungi were for 'the experts' and that the general public should not get involved. As a result mycological conservation was falling further and further behind other natural history disciplines. There was little public interest and even less investment. At the turn of the 1990s some of us felt a pressing need to change this situation. Initially Michael Jordan worked to persuade Channel 4 TV into commissioning 6 programmes exclusively devoted to fungi and intended to popularise mycology. The series Mushroom Magic rid mycology of much of its stuffy image and was an outstanding success! Ordinary members of the public began to seek out local groups with which to foray and thus the ABFG was born.Our pledge remains that of making mushrooms and toadstools accessible to everyone, young and old, with or without experience and of ridding the activity of its traditional spectre of humourless old fogeys spouting Latin! But we have another function. It is to advance mycological conservation. In this we are co-founder members of the Fungus Conservation Forum, hosted by Plantlife International, and our member groups are strongly committed to the recording of fungi found in their areas. These records go into a national database and by exploiting the repository of information, we are building up a national picture of Important Fungus Areas and of the species that are most in need of protection. By joining the ABFG you will be helping in this task and your group will take you on a learning curve towards carrying out your own recording. |