How ForageAI Works

ForageAI runs a daily pipeline at 4 AM MT to score mushroom foraging conditions across 34 states from the Rockies to New England. Here's how the scoring engine works.

Daily Pipeline

Fetch sensor data— SNOTEL (western: SWE, 2" soil temp) and SCAN (eastern: 10cm soil temp) from 60+ stations. NWS air-temp model fills gaps.

Fetch NWS forecasts— 7-day point forecasts for each region center

Check drought status— Weekly drought classification from US Drought Monitor

Run scoring engine— 5-factor deterministic scoring per region

Generate AI narratives— Gemini 2.5 Flash conditions reports for top-tier regions

Scoring Factors

Each region is scored on 5 binary factors. The tier is determined by how many factors are met.

💧

Moisture Trigger

Western: 0.3"+ precipitation in 7 days or active snowmelt from SNOTEL SWE decline. Eastern: 0.5"+ rain in 3 days (rain-only — no snowmelt). Species-specific: boletes need 2"+ then 7-10 days, chanterelles need 2-4" over 6-13 weeks (Ivanochko 2021), morels need >10mm events in prior 30 days (Mihail 2007).

Critical — most common limiting factor across all regions.

🌡️

Soil Temperature

Soil temp must be above threshold AND sustained for 5+ of last 7 days. Western: 48°F at 2" depth (SNOTEL sensors). Eastern: 50°F at 4"/10cm depth (SCAN sensors or NWS air-temp model with canopy shading adjustment). Based on Schmidt (1983) and Mihail (2007): 410 degree-day accumulation (base 32°F) predicts first eastern morel appearance.

Required for all species except snowbank mushrooms (which fruit at 32°F at snowmelt edge).

📅

Phenology Window

At least one tracked species has an active season window for this region, based on elevation-specific phenology data. Each species has a defined start and end date range.

Ensures the scoring engine only reports activity during biologically plausible windows.

❄️

No Hard Freeze

No forecast temperatures below 32°F in the next 48 hours from NWS point forecasts. Hard freezes damage developing mushroom primordia.

A single hard freeze can reset a flush.

🏜️

Drought Level

Region is not in severe drought (D3 or higher) per the US Drought Monitor. Severe drought makes fruiting impossible regardless of other factors.

Overrides other factors when active.

Foraging Potential Scale

Prime(5/5 factors)

All conditions optimal — go now

Excellent(4/5 factors)

Strong conditions with one minor limitation

Good(3/5 factors)

Decent window — worth a trip if nearby

Fair(2/5 factors)

Limited potential — scout but don’t commit

Poor(0-1/5 factors)

Not worth the drive — wait for conditions to improve

Data Sources

NRCS SNOTEL

Snow Water Equivalent, soil temperature, precipitation from 100+ automated mountain stations across western states. Updated daily.

NRCS SCAN

Soil Climate Analysis Network — 10cm soil temperature and precipitation from automated stations across eastern states. Same AWDB API as SNOTEL. Best coverage in MO; NWS air-temp model fills gaps elsewhere.

NOAA / NWS

7-day point forecasts including temperature, precipitation probability, and freeze warnings for each region center point.

US Drought Monitor

Weekly drought classification (D0-D4) by county. Used to flag regions where severe drought makes fruiting impossible.

WFIGS / NIFC

Authoritative wildfire perimeters from WFIGS Interagency Fire Perimeters (5-min refresh for current fires, historical archive for older fires). Full QC with geometry method, containment status, and acreage verification.

Google Gemini

AI-generated conditions narratives for top-tier regions. Synthesizes sensor data, forecasts, and phenology into plain-English foraging guidance via Gemini 2.5 Flash.

Anthropic Claude

AI-powered trip planner that builds personalized foraging itineraries with live conditions, driving routes, and gear checklists.

Sentinel-2 dNBR

Satellite-derived burn severity at 20m resolution from Sentinel-2 imagery (AWS Earth Search). Uses up to 50 images per composite with cloud/water/vegetation masking. Validated against BAER Park Fire 2024 official data. High-severity conifer burns are the morel money spots.

BLM Surface Management

Public land ownership overlay showing National Forest, BLM, National Park, State, and private boundaries. Critical for verifying legal foraging access within burn perimeters.

Mapbox

Interactive map with 5 base styles (Outdoors, Satellite, Topo, Dark, Streets), roads and trails vector tiles, and terrain visualization.

RainViewer

Real-time precipitation radar overlay on the interactive map. Free API, updated every 10 minutes.

Map Tools & Overlays

🗺️

5 Base Map Styles— Outdoors, Satellite (for scouting burn scars), Topo, Dark, and Streets.

🔥

Burn Severity Overlay— Sentinel-2 satellite dNBR severity zones at 20m resolution, validated against BAER field data. Color-coded on the map (red=high, orange=mod-high, yellow=mod-low, green=low) with adjustable opacity. Toggle on/off.

🏞️

Public Land Ownership— BLM Surface Management overlay shows USFS, BLM, NPS, State, and private boundaries within burn perimeters.

🛣️

Roads & Trails— Major highways, secondary roads, 4WD tracks, and trails from OpenStreetMap via Mapbox.

🌧️

Precipitation Radar— Real-time precipitation radar from RainViewer, updated every 10 minutes.

📍

Personal Pins— Pro users can right-click (or long-press on mobile) to drop private pins. Track species, quantity, notes, and link iNaturalist observations. Search and filter your pin history. Export as CSV or GPX.

📊

Conditions Timeline— Region detail pages show precipitation, soil temperature, and snowpack trends. Toggle between 30, 60, and 90-day ranges with summary stats.

🚗

Real Drive Times— Mapbox Directions Matrix API calculates actual road-based drive times from your GPS or zip code to all burn sites. Haversine fallback for instant estimates.

🚹

Access Guidance— Per-burn difficulty rating, vehicle requirements, road type, trailhead info, hike distance, parking, and seasonal road closures.

🧭

AI Trip Planner— Claude-powered itinerary builder with interactive route map, day-by-day itinerary, driving directions, and weather-aware gear checklist. Set your species, location, max drive time, and dates — get a full trip plan.

Coverage

ForageAI covers 34 states with 115 foraging regions, 33 tracked burn sites, and 32,000+ campgrounds.

Western US

Colorado

20 regions · 6 burns · 36 camps

Montana

5 regions · 4 burns · 15 camps

Idaho

5 regions · 3 burns · 15 camps

Wyoming

4 regions · 2 burns · 12 camps

Washington

5 regions · 3 burns · 15 camps

Oregon

5 regions · 3 burns · 15 camps

Utah

3 regions · 3 burns · 9 camps

New Mexico

4 regions · 3 burns · 12 camps

Arizona

3 regions · 3 burns · 9 camps

California

4 regions · 3 burns · 12 camps

Nevada

4 regions · 2 burns · 12 camps

Midwest

Missouri

4 regions · morel focus

Illinois

3 regions · morel focus

Indiana

3 regions · morel focus

Ohio

3 regions · morel focus

Michigan

4 regions · morel focus

Wisconsin

3 regions · morel focus

Iowa

2 regions · morel focus

Minnesota

2 regions · morel focus

Kentucky

2 regions · morel focus

Appalachian & Eastern

West Virginia

2 regions · morel focus

Virginia

2 regions · morel focus

Pennsylvania

3 regions · morel focus

New York

2 regions · morel focus

Tennessee

2 regions · morel focus

North Carolina

2 regions · morel focus

Georgia

1 regions · morel focus

Florida

3 regions · chanterelle & oyster focus

New England

Maine

3 regions · morel & chanterelle

New Hampshire

2 regions · morel & chanterelle

Vermont

2 regions · morel & chanterelle

Massachusetts

1 regions · morel & chanterelle

Connecticut

1 regions · morel & chanterelle

Rhode Island

1 regions · morel & chanterelle

Campground Data

Every foraging region includes nearby camping options sourced from USFS, BLM, NPS, and state recreation databases.

⛺

Developed Campgrounds— USFS, NPS, and state campgrounds with vault/flush toilets, water, fire rings, and picnic tables. Many reservable via recreation.gov.

🏕️

Dispersed Camping— Free, no-service camping on National Forest and BLM land. Fire ring only, pack in/pack out, 14-day limit.

🏞️

Backcountry Access— Wilderness trailhead campgrounds for multi-day foraging trips into remote burn sites and old-growth forest.

Each campground listing includes: managing agency, elevation, number of sites, fees, season dates, amenities, reservation links, and foraging-specific notes.

AI Trip Planner

Pro subscribers can generate personalized foraging trip itineraries powered by Claude AI with live conditions data.

How it works:Select your target species, set your location and max drive time, pick dates, and optionally request camping suggestions. Claude builds a structured trip plan using today's live region scores and burn site conditions.

Interactive route map:Your trip plan includes a Mapbox-powered map with driving routes between stops, numbered markers for each foraging location, campground pins, and day-by-day color coding. Click any stop in the itinerary to fly to it on the map.

Day-by-day itinerary:Structured timeline with arrival/departure times, drive time between stops, elevation, species to look for, current conditions at each location, and access notes (road type, vehicle requirements, closures).

Weather-aware gear checklist:Personalized gear recommendations based on the NWS forecast for your trip dates. Rain gear when precipitation is likely, warm layers when temps drop below 45°F, gaiters when snowpack is active, plus species-specific items (mesh bags for morels, wax paper for boletes).

Species knowledge:The planner knows the ecology of 11 species — elevation ranges, soil temperature thresholds, moisture requirements, seasonal windows, and habitat types. Burn morels are routed to fire data; all other species use living-forest regions.

Live data context:Each plan includes up to 15 nearby foraging regions with today's tier scores, soil temps, precipitation, SWE, freeze risk, and drought status — plus burn sites with severity, land ownership, and closure info.

Safety guardrails:The AI only discusses mushroom foraging trips. It cannot generate code, change personas, or provide medical advice. All inputs are sanitized and rate-limited to 2 plans per day and 5 per week.

MyCodex

A personal mushroom field guide that tracks your discoveries. Like a field journal meets a collection game — unlock species as you find them in the wild.

🔓

Species Discovery— Unlock species in your MyCodex by linking verified iNaturalist observations. Research-grade identifications auto-unlock matching species. 20 species to discover.

🔬

Darwin Core Records— Each codex entry displays full taxonomic data: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. Plus observation date, coordinates, habitat, and verification status.

🌍

iNaturalist Integration— Connect your iNaturalist account by username. Sync imports all your non-lichen fungi observations with photos. Toggle to show them on the map.

📌

Pin Integration— When dropping a foraging pin, optionally add the find to your MyCodex. Species are auto-matched from what you type.

First 3 species are free to unlock. Pro subscribers can discover all 20 species.

Burn Morel Tracker

33 post-fire sites from 2024-2025 across 11 states, selected for morel mushroom hunting potential in conifer forests at 5,000-10,000 ft elevation.

🔥

Burn Severity— Per-fire breakdown of high, moderate-high, moderate-low, and low severity zones with morel suitability ratings. High-severity conifer burns produce the most morels.

🏞️

Land Ownership— Agency breakdown for every burn (USFS, BLM, State, Private, Tribal, NPS, Wilderness) so you know where you can legally forage.

🚹

Access Difficulty— Rated Easy to Expert with vehicle requirements, road type, trailhead info, hike distance, parking, and seasonal road closures.

🌡️

Live Conditions— Daily status updates with moisture triggers, soil temperature, SNOTEL SWE, melt trends, and days-until-window estimates.

📝

Permit Requirements— Per-burn permit info: whether a permit is needed, personal-use harvest limits (typically 1 gal/person/day), commercial rules, and links to ranger district permit pages.

⚠️

Burn Area Hazards— Safety warnings for post-fire hazards: widow-makers (dead standing trees), stump holes (hidden root cavities), and flash flood/debris flow risk on burned slopes.

Pipeline schedule:Runs daily at 4:00 AM Mountain Time via GitHub Actions. SNOTEL (western) and SCAN (eastern) sensor data plus NWS forecasts are fetched fresh each run. Drought data updates weekly (Thursdays). Fire scanning is western-only (eastern morels are rain-dependent). AI narratives are generated only for S-tier and A-tier regions to conserve API usage. The app works offline — cached data is served when you have no connection.