Mushrooms Being Grown in Colorado Forests + Not Why You’d Assume

Last year saw the state of Colorado decriminalize certain psychedelic drugs for medical treatment of things like PTSD and depression, which includes psilocybin mushrooms, also known as "psychedelic" or "magic" mushrooms.

However, a different type of mushroom is currently being used to help Colorado's forests rather than residents of the state.

Colorado is Using Mushrooms to Prevent Wildfires

A few different groups including Boulder Mushroom, Boulder Watershed Collective, and Grama Grass and Livestock have been actively pursuing a project which they believe will help prevent forest fires in Colorado by introducing fungi to the areas.

The type of fungus being introduced is called mycelia which, according to Wikipedia, is "a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae."

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Interestingly, mycelia are said to be trainable and actually have a level of intelligence, and are beneficial to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in that they release carbon dioxide, and retain moisture.

The fungi are currently being placed in wood chips in order to aid in moisture retention, as well as being sprayed on forest floors in a mixture with water to induce decay and effectively mimic the properties of a rainforest.

The aforementioned groups received a grant for their research of $100,000 from Boulder County taxpayers and are actively working to line as much acreage of nearby forest land and burn sites.

Spearheading the projects is the founder of Boulder Mushroom, Zach Hedstrom, who truly believes that these mycelia are incredibly beneficial to our state's environment and the prevention of future wildfires.

[Durango Herald]