April 2025 General Meeting - Reagan Peschke “Fungal Curation and Novel Discoveries in Santa Cruz County”

The evening will start at 6:30 pm for those who would like to socialize, snack on Bob Wynn's fantastic spread and chat with fellow mycophiles before the main meeting. Business and announcements will start at 7:00 pm. After the business part of the meeting, Reagan Peschke will present a talk on:

Fungal Curation and Novel Discoveries in Santa Cruz County

What is curation, and why is it important in the context of fungi? This two part lecture begins with covering the basics of collecting and preserving fungi through the lens of a museum curator. It will also showcase several of Reagan’s observations from the past year that had never been recorded in Santa Cruz country.

Reagan Peschke is a naturalist and undergraduate at UCSC studying creative writing. Before moving to Santa Cruz, Reagan had almost no exposure to the world of fungi. But during her first winter on campus in 2023, she couldn’t resist taking photos of the colorful waxy caps on the paths between her classes. What started as an interest in photography blossomed into a deep, all-consuming passion for studying, documenting and collecting fungi. Over the past year and a half, Reagan has made nearly 5,000 observations of fungi. She started her own fungarium with more than 600 vouchered samples from across the United States. Reagan leads an internship at the UCSC Kenneth S. Norris Center where she oversees the management of thousands of fungal specimens and she teaches students how to curate fungi. She was also a teaching assistant for the Natural History of Fungi at UCSC led by Christian Schwarz. When she’s not in the field collecting fungi or giving guest lectures, she’s helping people identify mushrooms on platforms like iNaturalist. Reagan hopes to explore the intersection between her passions for writing and fungi by becoming a scientific communicator and publishing field guides.