Commercial pickers ‘hoovering up’ mushrooms from Epping Forest
City of London Corporation, which owns and manages the woodland, is warning large-scale foragers that they face prosecution and fines.
Commercial pickers are stripping ancient woodland of wild mushrooms for sale to restaurants and markets, the City of London Corporation has said.
The large-scale foragers are targeting Epping Forest, depriving insects and animals such as deer of a valuable food source and damaging the ancient trees which rely on types of fungus to protect their roots.
The corporation, which owns and manages the forest, is warning the fungus pickers that they could be fined or prosecuted for gathering mushrooms, which are protected under Epping Forest byelaws.
Since 2014, 18 people have been prosecuted for foraging, while forest keepers often issue verbal warnings.
In the most recent incident, legal action is being pursued over the seizure of a haul of mushrooms weighing 108lb (49kg).
“We welcome the millions of people who come to enjoy this protected site. But I urge our visitors to leave the fungi how they find them – untouched.
“Our job is to protect this ancient woodland for everyone to enjoy. Hoovering up fungi on such a large scale is ecologically damaging and is simply unsustainable.”
Epping Forest, London and Essex’s largest green space, has more than a million trees, including ancient pollards of beech, hornbeam and oak, and is home to around 500 rare and endangered insect species.
