David Pilz
Forest Mycologist

Affiliate Faculty

Email: pilzwald@peak.org

Education:

• B.S., 1973, Psychology, University of Illinois

• M.S., 1982, Forest Ecology, Oregon State University, Corvallis

Courses:

• Workshop: Mushroom Ecology for Forest Managers

• SNR 533: Alternative Forest Products

Research Interests:

• Managing forest habitats for the sustainable production of harvested wild fungi and other nontimber forest products.

• Broadening participation of stakeholders in monitoring and management.

• Interdisciplinary (social, economic, and biological) approaches to managing for sustainable harvests.

Current Programs:

• Promoting the Pacific Northwest culinary truffle industry

• Synthesis publications on the ecology and management of major types of harvested fungi.

• Morel productivity, taxonomy, and ecology.

• Chanterelle productivity responses to thinning young Douglas-fir stands.

• Participatory monitoring.

Examples of Research Support:

• National Commission on the Science of Sustainable Forestry: "Broadening Participation in Biological Monitoring:
  Guidelines for Scientists and Managers".

• USAID, Winrock International, and the Russian FOREST project: Sustainable harvesting of medicinal fungi in the Russian Far East

• Region 10, USDA Forest Service and enterprise team Forest Resource Enterprises: "Alaskan Nontimber Forest Product Opportunities".

• USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Forest Mycology Team: Productivity, monitoring, and sustainable harvest of edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms.

• USDA Forest Service, Cascade Center for Ecosystem Management: Young Stand Thinning and Diversity Study.

• USDA Forest Service, Siuslaw National Forest: Matsutake Harvest Impact Study

• United Nations, Man and the Biosphere Program: Olympic Peninsula Chanterelle Study

Examples of Publications:

• Pilz, D.; McLain, R.; Alexander S.; Villareal-Ruiz, Luis; Berch, S.; Wurtz, T.; Parks, C.; Mark, E.; Baker, B.; Molina, R.; Smith, J.E. [In Press]. Ecology and Management of Commercially Harvested Morels in Western North America. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-XXX. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station.

• Pilz, David; Ballard, Heidi, L.; Jones, Eric T. 2006. Broadening participation in biological monitoring: a handbook for scientists and managers. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-680. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 131 p. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/gtrs.shtml

• Pilz, D.; Molina, R.; Mayo, J. 2006. Effects of thinning young forests on chanterelle mushroom production. Journal of Forestry. 104(1):9-14

• Pilz, David; Alexander, Susan; Smith, Jerry; Schroeder, Robert; Freed, Jim. 2006. Alaskan Nontimber Forest Product Opportunities. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-671. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 79 pp. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr671.pdf

• Pilz, Dave; Bondi, Mike. 2005. Oregon truffles…a culinary delight from the forest. An Oregon Garden guide to truffles. May issue. Silverton, OR: Oregon Garden Rediscovery Forest and the Oregon Forest Resources Institute. 4 p.

• McFarlane, E.; Pilz, D.; Weber, N.S. 2005. High-elevation gray morels and other Morchella species harvested as non-timber forest products in Idaho and Montana. Mycologist. 19(2): 62-68.

• Pilz, D.; Weber, N.S.; Carter, C.; Parks, C.G.; Molina, R. 2004. Productivity and diversity of morel mushrooms in healthy, burned, and insect-damaged forests of northeastern Oregon. Forest Ecology and Management 198: 367-386.

• Pilz, David. 2004. Chaga and other fungal resources: assessment of sustainable commercial harvesting in Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais, Russia. Report prepared for Winrock International, Morrilton, Arkansas; U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, DC; and the FOREST Project, Khabarovsk, Russia. April 30, 2004. 54 p. http://www.forestproject.ru/web2/ntfp/ntfp.htm

• Pilz, D.; Norvell, L.; Danell, E.; Molina, R. 2003. Ecology and management of commercially harvested chanterelle mushrooms. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-576. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 84 p. http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/gtr576.pdf

• Pilz, D.; Molina, R. 2002. Commercial harvests of edible mushrooms from the forests of the Pacific Northwest United States: issues, management, and monitoring for sustainability. Forest Ecology and Management, Vol. 155 (1-3): 3-16.

• Alexander, S. J.; Pilz, D.; Weber, N. S.; Brown, E.; Rockwell, V. 2002. Value estimates of commercial mushrooms and timber in the Pacific Northwest. Environmental Management 30(1): 129-141.

• Pilz, D.; Smith, J.; Amaranthus, M.P.; Alexander, S.; Molina, R.; Luoma, D. 1999. Mushrooms and timber: managing commercial harvesting in the Oregon Cascades. Journal of Forestry 97(3): 4-11

• Pilz, D.; Molina, R.; Liegel, L.H. 1998. Biological productivity of chanterelle mushrooms in and near the Olympic Peninsula Biosphere Reserve. pp. 8-13. In: Liegel, L.H. compiler. The biological, socioeconomic, and managerial aspects of chanterelle mushroom harvesting: The Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, U.S.A. Ambio, A Journal of the Human Environment. Special Report Number 9, September, 1998. Stockholm, Sweden: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 35 p.

• Hosford, D.; Pilz, D.; Molina, R.; Amaranthus, M.P. 1997. Ecology and management of the commercially harvested American matsutake mushroom. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-412. Portland, OR: US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 68 p.

• Pilz, D.; Molina, R. eds. 1996. Managing forest ecosystems to conserve fungus diversity and sustain wild mushroom harvests. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-371. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 104 p.

(last updated 11 January 2007)