Support the U.S. National Fungus Collection
2026 Aug 31
You can support the US National Fungus Collection by signing an on-line petition. (Click here.)
The USDA’s U.S. National Fungus Collection contains one of the world’s largest collections of preserved fungal specimens. Among other things, it includes definitive (“type”) collections of many species. They are increasingly important to professionals and citizen scientists who use DNA sequencing to study fungi. (The collection also houses a reference library of about 5,600 volumes and 75,000 pamphlets and reprints.)
The Collection’s future recently become uncertain. The USDA announced that the facility housing the collection will be shut down and some projects relocated. But the announcement was silent about the National Fungus Collection.
You can show your support for the collection by joining this on-line petition, started by Dr. Andrew Wilson of the Denver Botanic Gardens, and supported by the Mycological Society of America and the American Institute of Biological Sciences.
And you can learn more by reading Oliver Filialuna’s and Andrew Wilson’s article on page 37 of the latest issue of The Mycophile (April May June 2026). That issue is on the Mycophile page of North American Mycological Association (NAMA) website.