Plants and Society 7th Edition by Estelle Levetin ,Karen McMahon

Exercise 5

Many edible mushrooms are not grown in cultivation but are picked from wild stands in our national forests. For example, the pine mushroom (Tricholoma magnivelare) flourishes in the forest of the Pacific Northwest, growing on the undisturbed forest floor in association with 100-year-old lodgepole pines, Douglas firs, and western hemlocks. Closely related to Japanese species, top-grade "pines" may sell for up to $200 per pound or more when shipped to Japanese markets. This lucrative trade has created a type of modernday gold rush whereby hundreds of mushroom pickers descend on forests during harvest season to "strike it rich."
Can you foresee any problems with the unregulated harvesting and sale of wild mushrooms How would you go about regulating the harvest of wild mushrooms (Consider that Illinois bans the sale of wild mushrooms altogether and, in Michigan, harvesters of wild mushrooms must be licensed.)