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NE Kansas Woodlands Foraging Conditions — ForageIQ

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NE Kansas Woodlands

800–1,300 ft · KS🚗 Directions

A

Missouri River bluffs and Glacial Hills. Richest deciduous forest in KS — oak, hickory, walnut, elm. Dead/dying ash from EAB creating prime morel habitat. Atchison, Doniphan, and Brown counties.

Trees:Bur Oak Shagbark Hickory Black Walnut

Updated May 29, 4:14 AM MT

AI Conditions Report

AI-generated · verify in field

**NE Kansas Woodlands – Tier A Assessment** You've hit a sweet spot: 65°F soil, sustained moisture at 0.23 VWC over two weeks, and zero drought stress create an unusually broad flush window for late May. The region's pulling high viability across 32 species—from choice edibles (Half-Free Morels, Aspen Oysters, Wine Caps) to medicinals and foraging standards (Turkey Tail, Birch Polypore). This is a generalist's paradise, not a niche window. The catch: desiccation risk is *high*, which means this window closes fast once heat picks up or rain stops. Late May in NE Kansas predictably dries hard by June. The 0.29" in the last 7 days is good insurance, but you're on borrowed time—expect rapid VWC decline in the next 10–14 days. Watch for dust. Any sustained temps above 75°F without rainfall will compress your viability window from "excellent" to "fair" within 48 hours. Priority play is soft fruiting bodies (Wine Caps, Oysters, inkcaps) over harder wood-decay specialists, which tolerate drydown better. **Hot tip:** Hit your morel sites *today or tomorrow*—Half-Frees fruit early and fast in these conditions, and they'll abort once soil dries below 0.15 VWC, which is coming.

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(1)

Geremy's Point

developed

City of Holtom~10 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

Wine Cap

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Turkey Tail

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Dryad's Saddle

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Witch's Butter

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Jelly Ear

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Dead Man's Fingers

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fairy Ring Champignon

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Artist's Conk

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Birch Polypore

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Tinder Fungus

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Devil's Urn

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Mica Cap

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fool's Mushroom

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fairy Inkcap

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Red-Belted Conk

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Thin-Walled Maze Polypore

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Mossy Maze Polypore

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

False Turkey Tail

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Half-Free Morel

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Eyelash Cup

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Snow Fungus

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Wood Ear

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Black Cup

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Green Elfcup

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Aspen Oyster

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Wolf's Milk Slime

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

King Alfred's Cakes

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Oak Mazegill

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Banded Mottlegill

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Dune Stinkhorn

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Lantern Stinkhorn

All conditions met (soil 65°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.23 VWC, 7d avg 0.23 — 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.