The Colorado Mycological Society is a 501-3C non-profit Organization founded in 1967 by Dr. Sam Mitchel, a Denver physician and amateur Mycologist. Their purposes are to advance the understanding and to stimulate the interest of the members by: Providing opportunities for students, holding conferences, facilitating cooperative research, arranging forays, and exchanging information among members. Collecting specimens of Colorado fungal flora for preservation in the Herbarium of Fungi of the Denver Botanic Gardens for identification and study. Interchanging specimens and information with other interested parties and organizations. They currently have over 2,000 members, and 28,000 people participating on their Facebook page. Ed Lubow has been hunting mushrooms since the 1970s, has been a member of CMS since the 1980s, and was president of CMS twice (1997, 2010). Ed has been volunteering in the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi at Denver Botanic Gardens since 2008 and has taught the basic mushroom identification class for Denver Botanic Gardens since 2015. Zoologist Jim Kavanagh has made a career out of introducing novices to plants, animals, the sciences and world cultures. In addition to creating over 500 simplified nature guides, he has also authored guides to languages, cities and outdoor skills. An avid traveler and backpacker, Kavanagh's path has taken him around the world to many remote destinations including the upper Amazon, Africa, Australia, and the Arctic Circle (and this is just the As). He is also the author of a series of state-specific guides to common species and natural attractions and a children's book on evolution.
