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Great Swamp / Central RI Foraging Conditions — ForageIQ

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Great Swamp / Central RI

10–120 ft · RI🚗 Directions

A

Great Swamp WMA and the Queens River corridor in south-central RI — Atlantic white cedar, red maple swamp, pitch pine islands, and mixed hardwood uplands. Historically-significant 1675 battle site. Chanterelles, black trumpets, lobster mushroom after summer rain; chicken-of-the-woods and oyster on red maple and oak; lion's mane in fall on beech wounds. Cedar swamp hosts unusual Russula and bolete species.

Trees:Red Maple White Oak American Beech

Updated May 29, 4:20 AM MT

AI Conditions Report

AI-generated · verify in field

# Great Swamp / Central RI — Tier A | May 29, 2026 You're in a sweet spot: soil temps have crossed 61°F and stayed there, moisture is locked in at 0.26 VWC average over seven days, and the region has no drought stress. This is peak spring fruiting—the window between winter polypores and summer drying is wide open. Dryad's Saddle, half-free morels, and wine caps are your money plays right now; the wood-decay community (oysters, turkey tail, artist's conk) is equally strong. The one constraint is desiccation risk—we're at the threshold where May heat can spike afternoon RH collapse, so timing matters. Watch the next 48 hours for temperature spikes above 70°F without cloud cover; that'll compress your window. If precip holds or another 0.3–0.5" falls, this tier holds through early June. If it stays dry and warm, pivot to north-facing slopes and heavy shade. **Hot tip:** Hit decomposing hardwoods in the wetland fringes for wine caps and oysters at first light before convection drying takes hold—this is your 5–7 day window before desiccation stress drops viability.

Generated by Claude (Anthropic) from the structured weather, soil, and phenology data on this page. The LLM can misread edge cases — treat this as a starting hypothesis, not a guarantee. Always verify conditions on the ground before committing to a long drive.

Foraging Potential75/100

✅Moisture

✅Soil Temp

✅No Freeze

✅No Drought

Precip 7d

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Nearby Camping

Within(8)

Camp Hoffman

developed

Girl Scouts of Rhode Island~2.2 mi from center

Junior Campsite

developed

~6.1 mi from center

YMCA Camp Fuller

developed

~6.2 mi from center

Sherman Campsite

developed

~6.2 mi from center

Jungle Campsite

developed

~6.2 mi from center

Camp Fuller - By The Sea

developed

YMCA~6.3 mi from center

Senior Hill

developed

~6.3 mi from center

Camp Watchaug (Westerly YMCA)

developed

Westerly (Ocean Community) YMCA~7.4 mi from center

⚠ Road Access Notice

Always verify road access is public before following GPS directions to mountain areas. Many forest roads are seasonal, gated, or require 4WD. Dispersed camping follows USFS/BLM rules (typically 14-day limit). Check ranger district offices for current road and campground conditions.

Viable Species

Confidence × Primordia state

HIGHPrimed

Oyster Mushroom

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Wine Cap

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Turkey Tail

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Dryad's Saddle

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Witch's Butter

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Jelly Ear

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Dead Man's Fingers

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fairy Ring Champignon

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 5/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Artist's Conk

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Birch Polypore

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Tinder Fungus

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Devil's Urn

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Mica Cap

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fool's Mushroom

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fairy Inkcap

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Red-Belted Conk

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Thin-Walled Maze Polypore

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Mossy Maze Polypore

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

False Turkey Tail

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Half-Free Morel

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Snow Fungus

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Wood Ear

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Black Cup

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Green Elfcup

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Aspen Oyster

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Wolf's Milk Slime

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

King Alfred's Cakes

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Oak Mazegill

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Banded Mottlegill

All conditions met (soil 61°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.22 VWC, 7d avg 0.26 — moisture sustained)

Primordia readiness: Cold = mycelium dormant. Activating = soil warming, primordia building. Primed = 5+ sustained warm days at species threshold; fruiting imminent if moisture cooperates. Based on Schmidt 1983 / Mihail 2007.