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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Victorious Raiders parade trophy through downtown Ashland State police search for pursuit suspect near Hyatt Lake Police Reports Cheering on the champs Ashland's Safeway part of Haggen acquisition Education For a friend: AHS seniors team up to help former fellow student Ashland builds a bridge across the STEM gap Chicken pox hits Ashland Middle School AHS speech and debate team to compete in Medford Ashland: Lions Club steps up for vision tests Environment New TAP pumps bolster Ashland's options Most residents speak against gas pipeline proposed for Southern Oregon Home Help: Make your new house feel like home ‘Tis the season — for wild mushrooms Business Ashland's Safeway part of Haggen acquisition The Playwright pub will be serving again Saturday Mt. Ashland managers ponder opening this week Hats with a Past Employment in Oregon surpasses pre-recession levels Politics and elections State certifies recount showing failure of GMO-labeling measure Local rep to testify before U.S. Senate panel Tuesday Kent Bush: First Amendment doesn’t mean what you think it means Miller write-in campaign lands Ashland Parks and Rec seat State News In Portland, mindfulness classes ease stress of high school GMO label measure, losing by 809 votes, headed for recount Resent ballots, late results likely to trigger GMO recount Nation - World Obama makes Maduro’s ‘insolent Yankees’ line harder to sell Grand jury won't indict Ferguson cop in shooting Obituaries Death Notices Death Notices Bernard Eugene Krueger Death Notices Christina Lea "Mima" Jacobson Shareable Sports Latest Stories Raiders bring it home Weber's triple-double help SOU men survive OT thriller For fans who made trip, title game special Cheering on the champs NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! SOU tops Marian in NAIA football finals High school Shibley-Styer, Malcolm lead Grizzlies to comeback win over Henley Feinberg scores 17 in Grizz loss Grizzlies tripped up late in tourney loss to Ridgeview Grizzlies' comeback attempt falls short against Mazama Ashland girls win three duals in home swim meet Southern Oregon University Raiders bring it home Weber's triple-double help SOU men survive OT thriller For fans who made trip, title game special Cheering on the champs Shibley-Styer, Malcolm lead Grizzlies to comeback win over Henley Opinion Latest Stories Herb Rothschild Jr.: The Christmas spirit Our View: Good news this week The vaccination deniers Granlund cartoon: Christmas season Matthew T. Mangino: The future of the death penalty in question? Editorial Our View: Good news this week The vaccination deniers Other Views: Hunting helps the economy Our View: ACH's remarkable recovery Our View: Growing up is inevitable Letters Letters to the Editor, Dec. 17 Letters to the Editor, Dec. 16 Letters to the Editor, Dec. 11 Letters to the Editor, Dec. 8 Letters to the Editor, Dec. 5 Guest opinions Herb Rothschild Jr.: The Christmas spirit Guest Opinion: Heard the buzz about Bee City USA? Herb Rothschild Jr.: Fight Zionist suppression Guest Opinion: Life — and death — by choice Guest Opinion: The environmental tipping point Revels Latest Stories Dancing People Company celebrates the Winter Solstice 4 Things to do this weekend Listings for Varsity Theatre and Ashland Street Cinemas Best Bets: Dec. 18-24 'Homesman' plays grit and despair perfectly Theater ACT presents reading of 'The Quality of Life' Putting the music into 'A Christmas Carol' Meet the real Jacob Marley Music Rating old-timers’ albums from 2014 SOU presents all-percussion concert Visual Art Ashland's First Friday Art Walk showcases new exhiits by regional artists Movies Movie review: This ‘Museum’ entry should be closed to the public Listings for Varsity Theatre and Ashland Street Cinemas 'Homesman' plays grit and despair perfectly Movie review: Exiting Middle-earth with a triumphant flourish Movie review: A captivating film about a girl gone ‘Wild’ Food and Drink Cruelest Month: Poetry Blog Lifestyle Latest Stories Looking Up: The stars from the North Pole Suzette Martinez Standring: Christmas light reflections Health Watch: Change up your treadmill workout In Good Faith: Fallen angels Marketta Gregory: Advent calendar Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs NEWS NOW Victorious Raiders parade trophy through downtown Ashland ... State police search for pursuit suspect near Hyatt Lake ... Raiders bring it home ... Victorious Raiders parade trophy through downtown Ashland ... State police search for pursuit suspect near Hyatt Lake ... Raiders bring it home ... WILD SIDE 'Tis the season — for wild mushrooms Comment By Joseph Vaile DailyTidings.com By Joseph Vaile Posted Dec. 2, 2014 @ 5:20 pm By Joseph Vaile Posted Dec. 2, 2014 @ 5:20 pm » RELATED CONTENT • Salmon: A force of nature can be restored • Kalmiopsis' future at stake if mining goes forward • Fires and forests evolved together, but now people are in... • Getting away from — and back into — it all » Social News Here we go. Time to endure the never-ending soundtrack of "Jingle Bells" and "Here Comes Santa Claus" blaring from every radio in the country for the next month. That’s how we know it’s the holiday season, right? Yes — but to me, nothing embodies the holiday season like wild mushrooms. They teach us so much about relationships in the natural world and are easy proof of the old adage that “everything is connected.” I was fortunate enough to enjoy this past Thanksgiving with friends and family in the Little Applegate Valley. For those who don’t know, the Little Applegate is wonderful farm-filled valley west of the Rogue Valley, surrounded by public forests managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Like most Americans, I stuffed myself silly at dinner. How could I not? Unlike most Americans, most everything I was eating (apart from the canned cranberries) was grown within a few miles of our dinner table. Waking up still full, on Friday I headed out for misty morning run on the Little Applegate’s Sterling Mine Ditch Trail to burn off some pumpkin pie. As I ran along the ditch trail through varied habitat of oak and fir, with views of the green Siskiyou forests broken between the fall foliage on broadleaved hardwood trees, I thought about all of my relationships. The holidays are a time to reflect on all our connections, the interdependence that we have within our community as well as the natural world. Remembering last night’s mushroom gravy, I thought about mushrooms that were popping along the trail, part of a web of life that we only see in glimpses. This has been a banner year for wild mushrooms in our region. They are everywhere in the woods. All shapes, colors and sizes of those mysterious fungi. Hedgehogs, chicken of the woods, coral fungus, elfin saddle, conch — take a hike and you will likely see mushrooms in our mossy forests. Often misunderstood or even reviled, wild mushrooms — which are simply the fruiting body of underground networks of fungi called mycelium — should be celebrated for the critical role they play in our environment. Not only do fungi decompose dead vegetation and build soil health, as we are beginning to understand, they also help plants survive. Most plants need fungus to help them grow. Researchers have recently discovered the extent to which fungi play an essential role in old-growth forests, enabling trees to essentially communicate with each other by transferring carbon, nitrogen and water between trees — benefiting both the trees and the fungi. But that is not the full extent of the relationship. Suzanne Simard , Ph.D., is a professor in British Columbia who studies fungi in Northwest forests. Her team of graduate students has researched a specific class of fungi called mycorrhizae — fungi that are connected to the roots of Pacific Northwest trees. What they have found is amazing. Not only are the trees in a beneficial relationship with fungi, the oldest trees serve as a sort of hub for the younger trees. This suggests that the removal of the old trees could lessen the regenerative abilities of the forest through time. These mycorrhizal networks could help stabilize forests in a changing climate, by maintaining biological relationships that will enable future tree migrations across the landscape. So when a fruiting body of fungi pops its head out from the duff on the forest floor, or when you enjoy mushroom gravy with your holiday turkey, it is an opportunity to reflect on our connections to community and family. This holiday season, let’s all be thankful for fungi and our connections to all life on the planet. Are you excited about fungi? You can join KS Wild for a hike to look for fungi on Dec. 20. Check out www.kswild.org for details. Joseph Vaile is executive director of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild, 541-488-5789, www.kswild.org). His Wild Side column appears every three weeks.   By Joseph Vaile DailyTidings.com By Joseph Vaile Posted Dec. 2, 2014 @ 5:20 pm » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2014 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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