The coffee machine is bubbling early in a warehouse at Soesterberg Air Base Park. Three men in green boa uniforms prepare for their tour of the former defense site, now managed by the Utrechts Landschap Foundation. “It is still quiet in nature at the moment, a time when wild pickers are setting out,” says Ricor (55) of the Regional Implementation Service Utrecht (RUD Utrecht), which monitors the environment.
During a major enforcement action a few weeks ago on the Heuvelrug, he found someone around 9:30 am who had already collected about 13 kilos of mushrooms. A total of 36.5 kilos was seized during the action. Now it is just before half past eight when he, RUD colleague Addy (54) and Mart (21) from Utrechts Landschap get into their green jeeps for a patrol. Due to the sensitivity of their work, the boas do not want to be referred to by their surname.
This Saturday morning the route passes several “hotspots” in the area. The boas have often encountered wild pickers in these places. Mushroom picking is illegal in the Netherlands, although Staatsbosbeheer, for example, tolerates taking a ‘mushroom tray’ of 250 grams. There is stricter enforcement on the Utrechtse Heuvelrug. Hikers are allowed to pick up a small amount of nature on the roads and paths here, but not pick it or take it off the paths.
Outside the jeep, the sun has driven away the morning mist and the forest is turning red-yellow-golden autumn colors. “Cep and chestnut boletus, these are the most popular mushrooms,” says Mart. “People really pick those mushrooms to eat.” He’s not really into mushrooms himself, he laughs when Addy, from behind the wheel, starts talking about brushing mushrooms clean before cooking. “I don’t like the structure.”
Enforcement officers Ricor (left) and Addy at Soesterberg Park Air Base.
Photo Walter Autumn
Illegally parked cars are fined.
Photo Walter Autumn
Mushrooms are of great importance to the ecosystem, which is why wild picking is prohibited.
Photo Walter Autumn
Ricor in the car during patrol.
Photo Walter Autumn
Wild picking hype
Plenty of people think differently about that, he knows. “Wild picking has become a hype in recent years.” He does not dare to say whether this will result in more enforcement. In the past, seizures have not always been recorded numerically. But, says Addy, “nine years ago, mushroom campaigns were ridiculed among boas. Now that there is more knowledge about their importance for nature, it is really starting to come to life.”
According to Mart, the wild-picking hype can be explained by the fact that people want to eat “purely from nature”, “without pesticides being used for cultivation”. Influencers promote wild foraging on social media or organize wild foraging courses. Eastern European migrant workers in the Netherlands also find their way to the forest. In countries such as the Czech Republic and Poland it is a traditional autumn activity: whole families go out and come home with baskets full of mushrooms.
The Utrecht boas deliberately do not discuss the origin of wild pickers they catch, they want to avoid a “label”. To them, they are all “suspects” who are damaging nature. That sounds intense for a seemingly minor offense like picking a mushroom. But the fungi are of great importance to the ecosystem, Mart explains. “Animals in the forest also eat the mushrooms: squirrels, insects. In addition, mushrooms clear away dead wood and leaves, and their fungal networks are connected to trees and plants. If you remove a mushroom, you also remove the spores and nature deteriorates.”
In the quiet area of the air base it is quiet, apart from some chattering birds. No visitors are allowed. The wild pickers also seem to be adhering to that this morning. A little further on, the jeep drives past two hikers who are resting on a bench in an open part of the park and looking out over a deeply excavated sand excavation, now grassland with a tree here and there. Addy and Mart roll down their window. “Good morning!”
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Dirty hands
They see no reason to get out and check the bags of the two. The boas need a reason to stop people and look in their bags, they explain. “If you see someone walking off the path and carrying a bag, you can estimate what is in it,” says Mart. “Often that person also has a knife with him to cut the mushrooms. And dirty hands.”
For a moment it seems to be an action-less morning for the boas. But then, at the busier Panbos, the men spring into action. Four illegally parked cars are fined, two women are fined for their stray dog. Meanwhile, Ricor informs a visitor that she is not allowed to enter the area with her cargo bike. “It is always possible that you will encounter something different during an enforcement action,” the men have warned in advance.
When the jeeps have driven a bit further and Addy sees a row of mushrooms along the walking path, he stops the car. With the help of Google and nature apps, the boas manage to find out that it is the funnel-shaped cloud fungus, an edible mushroom (if prepared properly) that tastes like chicken. Some mold is already growing on top. “They will be gone in a week,” says Addy. Vanished into dust.
These will be the last days in which he expects to find mushroom pickers in the forest. From mid-November it becomes too cold and edible mushrooms can no longer be found. But there will always be wild pickers, says Addy: “Now we get the moss pickers for the Christmas pieces.”
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