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Wayne NF Foraging Conditions — ForageIQ

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Wayne NF

600–1,400 ft · OH🚗 Directions

S

Wayne National Forest in SE Ohio. Rolling Appalachian foothills with oak-hickory, dying ash, and scattered old orchards. Largest contiguous forest in Ohio. Early-season morels on south slopes, then ridgetops later.

Trees:White Oak Hickory White Ash

Updated May 29, 4:10 AM MT

AI Conditions Report

AI-generated · verify in field

**Wayne NF is running S-tier right now—a full moisture window with sustained soil warmth and zero drought stress.** The 4.37" of rain over seven days has soaked the forest floor to 0.31 VWC average, triggering simultaneous fruiting across an unusually broad palette: your spring morels (Half-Free), early summer wood-decomposers (Wine Cap, Turkey Tail, Aspen Oyster), and the full suite of jelly fungi (Witch's Butter, Wood Ear, Snow Fungus) are all live targets. Polypores and hardwood specialists are equally viable—Artist's Conk, Red-Belted Conk, and Oak Mazegill won't fruit harder than this until fall. The only real limiter is moderate desiccation risk; you're sitting at peak flush but the clock is ticking as solar angle and air temps climb through early June. Watch the next 72 hours for rapid drying—one dry spell breaks the moisture chain and fruiting collapses hard at this elevation. Spring ephemeral energy won't last beyond early June anyway. **Hot tip:** Hit the half-free morels *today* while soil temps hold at 65–66°F; they're already in the window and will abort fast once daytime temps hit 75°F+.

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

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Nearby Camping

Within(0)

No campgrounds within 10 mi. Try widening the radius.

⚠ 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 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Turkey Tail

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Dryad's Saddle

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Witch's Butter

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Jelly Ear

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Dead Man's Fingers

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fairy Ring Champignon

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Artist's Conk

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Birch Polypore

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Tinder Fungus

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Devil's Urn

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Mica Cap

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fool's Mushroom

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Fairy Inkcap

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Red-Belted Conk

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Thin-Walled Maze Polypore

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Mossy Maze Polypore

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

False Turkey Tail

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Half-Free Morel

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Snow Fungus

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Wood Ear

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Black Cup

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Green Elfcup

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Aspen Oyster

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Wolf's Milk Slime

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

King Alfred's Cakes

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Oak Mazegill

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Ovoid-Spore Psilocybe

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Dune Stinkhorn

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 6/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 VWC, 7d avg 0.31 — moisture sustained)

HIGHPrimed

Lantern Stinkhorn

All conditions met (soil 66°F, sustained 7/7 days above threshold, today 0.28 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.