Alexander Gribnov
A mushroom picker with 30 years of experience and organizer of ‘mushrooming tours’
This summer in Russia, with its frequent rains and hot weather, can be safely called one of the most mushroom-rich in last decades. However, not all mushrooms are edible and can be picked without hitting a mushroom picker in the pocket. EcoTourism EXPERT found out from Alexander Gribnov, a mushroom picker with 30 years of experience and organizer of ‘mushrooming tours’ how the control over the picking of endangered mushrooms is organized and whether it is possible to make money today on ‘quiet hunt’.
- Since October 12, 2023, the amendments to the Criminal Code have been in effect in Russia, according to which a person can be put in prison for destroying or damaging the endangered species of mushrooms and plants, and the maximum punishment is up to nine years. How is the implementation of this law monitored?
- In fact, the situation is paradoxical. People keep on picking mushrooms but they do not know what mushrooms are not poisonous. Although, of course, there are those who pick certain mushrooms, since there are practically no foresters today who could monitor the implementation of the law. I have been picking mushrooms in the woods for more than 30 years and met foresters only twice during this period.
- It turns out that there is no one to monitor mushroom picking?
- In fact, there is nobody today who would monitor the implementation of this law in the forest, or there are not enough people to do this. Therefore, it is really necessary to bring order in this sphere, like in Belarus, for example. I visited this country many times and saw mushroom collecting points everywhere. The state buys the mushrooms picked, albeit for little money, and people do not even try to sell them standing along the roads, all mushrooms are sold at local markets. We do not have such mushroom collection points set up by the state. It seems to me that there is a danger that ordinary mushroom pickers will be punished, while those who uncontrollably sell rare mushrooms in big bags will escape punishment.
- Tell me, how easy is it to organize a mushrooming tour today?
- I founded the mushroom tourism segment in 2017 and already have quite a lot of followers. At the same time, those who want to organize a mushrooming tour should know that picking mushrooms for sale is much more profitable.
- And where are the mushroom tours popular today?
- Mushrooming tours are popular in Karelia and in the Moscow Region. In other places, it is simply not very profitable for people to arrange these tours, it is much more interesting and profitable to pick mushrooms for sale. Moreover, during a mushrooming tour we ‘disclose’ the location, that is, people come for a symbolic fee on a mushrooming tour, enjoy the time picking mushrooms and later on, they come back on their own. So, organizing mushrooming tours definitely cannot be called a profitable business.
- How often do people contact you and ask you to organize a mushrooming tour?
- In 2022, there were three group mushrooming tours. This year, there were ten tours. So, this is a hobby rather than a basic activity, it is a good opportunity for people to get acquainted and communicate with each other.
- How much does it cost to go on a mushrooming tour today?
- On average, a mushrooming tour costs from three to five thousand per person. And it depends on how many mushrooms there are in the mushroom picking area and what kind of mushrooms. Most people go for porcini mushrooms.
- What would you advise an amateur mushroom picker?
- Mushrooms are rapidly gaining popularity with people today. Therefore, if people have no experience in mushroom picking, it is quite easy for them to get poisoned by inedible or conditionally-edible mushrooms. To avoid this, people should go mushrooming in the woods with an experienced guide or with someone who knows about mushrooms growing in the woods, even if they know the main types of mushrooms only.
- Aspen mushrooms, birch mushrooms, porcini mushrooms…
- Yes. It’s easy to distinguish these mushrooms from each other and from inedible mushrooms in the woods. And it is not so easy to do this looking at the pictures on the Internet, no matter how strange it may seem. I would like to say that there are applications for smartphones helping in identifying mushrooms. I advise you to use these applications, in my experience, they are 90 percent reliable.
- What else is important for a beginner in mushroom picking?
- Beginners in mushroom picking need to be good at finding their way in the forest. If they do not know how to do this, they need to take a navigator along with them. It is also important to know that going mushrooming in the woods alone is quite dangerous. Anything can happen to them and at any age: people can get injured and, for example, a heart problem can happen to older people.
- What do you think about the development of mushrooming tourism in Russia?
- Mushrooming tourism is developing quite well. New guides in the forest and new ‘tour guides’ are appearing. But I would like to repeat, this is not a very interesting and profitable way to earn money, even if this tourism segment is very popular with people.
As for mushrooming tourism future, it is rather vague. Today, people mostly spontaneously unite in groups on social networks, go mushrooming in the woods on their own and arrange a mushrooming tour for themselves. This tourism direction will definitely develop.
And new regions will gradually be involved in mushrooming tourism, including the North of Russia, the Urals, the Trans-Urals, and other regions, I believe that the mushrooming tourism is expected to spread geographically and gain popularity.
