Smith said many of the mushrooms will be on the shelves of Japanese markets 36 hours after harvest. Oregon's commercial matsutake harvest began in 1989. Smith said pickers used to harvest mushrooms primarily in British Columbia. When the crop failed there that summer, buyers sent out scouts looking for the matsutakes in other forests. The scouts discovered the mushrooms on the Winema, Deschutes and Fremont national forests.
Pickers also seek the mushrooms in Northern California and in the Illinois Valley.
Smith said the Forest Service has changed the mushroom program as managers learned from experience. At first, mushroom pickers were allowed to camp anywhere in the forest, but many left behind trash and human waste. This year the Forest Service hired a concessionaire to create camps specifically for mushroom pickers. The camps feature trash collection, drinking water and plenty of portable toilets. The Forest Service also is trying to teach the mushroom hunters to pick responsibly.