You're offline — showing cached data

Loading conditions…

Ozark NF Foraging Conditions — ForageIQ

🚗 Get Directions

Ozark NF

700–2,700 ft · AR🚗 Directions

S

Ozark NF in northwest Arkansas — oak-hickory ridges, Ouachita pine-oak transitions, and limestone hollows. One of the most productive morel regions in the South thanks to elevation gradient and rich limestone soils. Hen-of-the-woods, chicken, and chanterelles all summer/fall. Excellent road access via Highway 7 and 23.

Trees:White Oak Hickory Shortleaf Pine

Updated May 29, 4:15 AM MT

AI Conditions Report

AI-generated · verify in field

**Ozark NF – S-Tier Flush Window (Late May Peak)** This is a textbook S-tier moment: 68°F soil sustained across a full week, 0.33 VWC holding steady, zero drought stress, and no limiting factors. The Ozarks right now are firing on all cylinders—you've got saprobes, wood-decomposers, and spring ephemerals all viable simultaneously, which rarely happens. Dryad's Saddle is probably past peak but stragglers will flush; lean hard into oysters, wine caps, and jelly ears on hardwood debris. The wood polypores (Artist's Conk, Birch Polypore, Red-Belted Conk) are in their sweet spot for specimen collection. Only watch is the 0.38" rainfall in the last 7 days—that's lean for sustaining soft fruiting bodies beyond this week. If we don't see 0.5"+ by early June, moisture will drop and the window closes fast. **Hot tip:** Hit north-facing oak and ash ravines at dawn for remaining morel triggers and fresh oyster flushes before heat kills the flush window entirely.

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 Potential95/100

✅Moisture

✅Soil Temp

✅No Freeze

✅No Drought

Precip 7d

Found something?

Log your find on iNaturalist to help the community and get expert ID assistance. Photos, location, and habitat notes all help with identification.

Log on iNaturalist View recent finds nearby →

Nearby Camping

Within(3)

Ozone Recreation Area

developed

USFS~6.1 mi from centerFee required/night

Ozark-St. Francis National Forests

Ozone Rec Area

developed

USFS~6.2 mi from center

Wolf Pen Recreation Area

developed

USFS~9.1 mi from centerFee required/night

Ozark-St. Francis National Forests

⚠ 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 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Wine Cap

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Turkey Tail

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Dryad's Saddle

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Witch's Butter

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Jelly Ear

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Dead Man's Fingers

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fairy Ring Champignon

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Artist's Conk

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Birch Polypore

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Tinder Fungus

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Devil's Urn

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Mica Cap

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fool's Mushroom

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fairy Inkcap

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Red-Belted Conk

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Thin-Walled Maze Polypore

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Mossy Maze Polypore

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

False Turkey Tail

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Half-Free Morel

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Eyelash Cup

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Snow Fungus

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Wood Ear

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Black Cup

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Green Elfcup

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Aspen Oyster

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Wolf's Milk Slime

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

King Alfred's Cakes

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Oak Mazegill

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Banded Mottlegill

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Dune Stinkhorn

All conditions met (soil 68°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.33 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — 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.