The 2026 NAMA annual foray in the Upper Peninsula

The annual foray of the North American Mycological Association is the largest regular gathering of amateur mycologists on the continent, and in 2026 it carries the name NAMA Yoop. It runs from 27 to 30 August in Marquette, Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula.

The venue is the Northern Michigan University Event Center, described by the organiser as a building with a large ballroom, several classrooms and easy parking. The foray committee is chaired by Ken Buegeleisen. Registration is open and handled through the GlueUp platform.

The format explains why it lasts four days. The programme combines field trips with work at identification tables and with lectures, and the material collected goes into the record as voucher specimens. The organiser gives notice that tables with voucher collection slips will stand at the recommended collecting locations from Wednesday 26 August, a day before the formal start, so that participants can arrive early and begin collecting on their own.

The choice of the Upper Peninsula is not accidental. This is a region of boreal and mixed forest on Lake Superior, where the end of August falls at the height of the season. The organiser adds evening walks on the shore of the lake in search of yooperlites, stones that fluoresce under ultraviolet light — a local curiosity with nothing to do with fungi, but one that says a good deal about the character of the gathering.

One thing needs planning ahead: the venue provides no accommodation. The organiser recommends booking a hotel, a rental or a campsite for Thursday 27 to Sunday 30 August independently of registering for the foray itself.

For a European reader the event is interesting as a point of comparison. The American mycological tradition grew up around amateur societies running their own forays and their own specimen records, rather than around state institutions. The NAMA foray is the clearest example: for four days a network of regional societies works like a single research institution, and then disperses until the following year.

Museum vouchers, closed registration

NAMA’s official event record lists 14 guided Friday–Saturday forays: nearby outings last three hours, farther ones four to six, with self-drive transport and car-pooling encouraged. Collected fungi return for identification and vouchering into the Field Museum of Natural History’s permanent collection. The programme also includes 18 lectures, six pre-scouted self-guided locations and US$25 workshops; standard admission excludes housing.