He found that significant rates of timber harvest are necessary to maximize pine mushroom production. Mushrooms thrive in younger mature forest, and harvesting the older forest creates a stream of young maturing stands. An economic assessment found that the total economic yield from the forest is maximized at a rotation age of approximately 145 years. This rotation age extends the period of mushroom productivity and the development of valuable timber piece sizes. Shorter rotations lose more in mushroom value than the gain in wood fiber.
Longer rotations lose more timber increments than the gain in mushroom yield.
The report identifies further information requirements for mushroom and timber management, and concludes with a comprehensive list of activities that would improve understanding of the subject. The final component of the project is identification of potential mushroom sites in the Kispiox and parts of the West Nass small business tenure. Using air photos of the areas, researchers are indicating which portions of the landscape have site characteristics similar to those identified in the field work of known mushroom sites. As well as identifying sites, the intention is to quantify that portion of the forest that is potential mushroom habitat. The final phase of the project will be a workshop bringing together the interested parties who met initially in June in order that they can report on the findings from the various studies and get input on priorities for further mushroom research.