"No one will be punished for destroying forests, but the unfortunate old woman who picked a birch bolete will get the full punishment." A biologist commented on the tougher penalties for picking endangered mushrooms.

For collecting the mushroom "Matsutake rowan", listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation, threatens Criminal penalties range from 3 to 9 years in prison and a fine of 1,5 to 3 million rubles. Mushrooms listed in regional Red Books will carry fines of 2,5 to 5 rubles. The relevant changes came into effect in mid-October.

Punishments should be imposed if mushrooms are picked "intentionally," something law enforcement officials have yet to prove. But Mikhail Vishnevsky, chairman of the Russian Mycological Society and a PhD in biology, is confident this won't be a problem.

"Criminal intent has been a part of our culture since the days of the NKVD. And there's no reason not to trust a police officer who believes there was intent and that the mushroom picker is simply feigning ignorance. Plus, ignorance of the law is no excuse," he commented to NeMoskva.

According to Vishnevsky, “doing everything according to the law is unrealistic”:
"There are only a dozen specialists in the country who can identify a mushroom species without a microscope or chemicals. In reality, it would be like this: someone would emerge from the forest, and a policeman would reach into their basket and say, 'Oh, a multi-colored birch bolete!' The twenty would be there, and that's it."

The mycologist advises mushroom pickers to study regional Red Data Books and avoid cutting anything that resembles mushrooms listed there. For example, in the Moscow region, 30 species can be fined. In the Murmansk region, chanterelles are listed as endangered, in the Far East, saffron milk caps, and in the south, porcini mushrooms.

According to the expert, the amendments were passed by "uneducated people" who don't understand that their decisions could worsen the situation. The mycelium develops through mushroom picking, and if a species begins to disappear, that's because evolution has decided so, the biologist explains. "No one will be punished for deforestation, but the poor old woman who picked the birch bolete will get the full punishment," the expert concludes.

Photo: Wikipedia