"Unless otherwise posted a person may gather for personal consumption berries, fruits, mushrooms, or similar edibles in quantities not to exceed one gallon per person per day."
That sentence comes from Oregon Administrative Rule 736-010-0055, and it covers Fort Stevens State Park in Hammond. It tells you how much you can take. It doesn't say a word about which mushrooms are safe to eat. In November, the park runs free ranger-led hikes and a talk-and-walk built around finding and identifying wild mushrooms. Those afternoons on the trail are a better place to start the season than the rulebook.
The Rule Covers Quantity and Purpose
The rule is short, and each part of it matters. "Personal consumption" means you're picking for your own table. "One gallon per person per day" is the cap. "Unless otherwise posted" means a sign at a trailhead or parking lot can change the answer for that spot.
The neighboring sections of the same rule set the limits around that permission. The department can restrict natural-product collection by area, quantity and time of year. Another section says a person may not uproot living plants or collect roots, tubers, flowers and stems without written permission from the park manager, and then only for scientific collection or research. The most recent amendment to the rule took effect March 12, 2025.
This is general information, not legal advice. If you're unsure whether a posted restriction applies where you're walking, a Fort Stevens ranger can tell you before you start filling a bag.
What the Rule Leaves to You
A gallon is a lot of mushrooms, and the rule sets no identification requirement for any of them. The state's health officials set a much higher bar.
The Oregon Health Authority's mushroom safety page says fall brings more emergency room visits and more Poison Center calls about mushroom exposures. It advises against eating any wild mushroom unless an experienced mycologist has identified it, and it warns that cooking does not make a poisonous mushroom safe. The same page describes a 1988 case in which death cap mushrooms, Amanita phalloides, left five Oregon residents seriously ill. Four of them needed liver transplants.
The most recent large case count comes from northern California. A CDC report published May 28, 2026 counted 39 suspected amatoxin mushroom poisonings there from November 2025 through March 2026, with three liver transplants and four deaths. It said the West Coast species involved can grow in several kinds of habitat, and that their combined peak season runs from October through April. Those were California cases. The season window they describe, though, covers the same months as Fort Stevens' fall walks.
The Oregon Poison Center at OHSU takes calls free, confidentially and 24 hours a day at 1-800-222-1222. That's worth saving in your phone before the first walk.
Three Free Afternoons With a Ranger
Oregon State Parks has scheduled three mushroom programs at Fort Stevens this month. All three are free and need no registration. The day-use parking fee still applies.
| Date | Time | Meeting point | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, Nov. 13 | 1 p.m. | Battery Russell | Ranger-guided Wild Mushroom Hike |
| Sunday, Nov. 15 | 1 to 3 p.m. | Coffenbury Lake, Picnic Shelter A | Mushroom Talk and Walk |
| Thursday, Nov. 19 | 1 to 3 p.m. | Battery Russell | Ranger-guided Wild Mushroom Hike |
The two Battery Russell hikes go out looking for wild mushrooms and identify them along the way. The event listing encourages hikers to bring in mushrooms they've already found so a ranger can identify them. That gives you a chance to learn what you've actually been picking, a step the rule never asks for. Identification help on a park hike is still a different thing from the experienced-mycologist check OHA calls for before anyone eats a wild mushroom.
The Sunday program at Coffenbury Lake opens with a ranger talk on wild mushrooms, then heads out on a hike to look for fungi. The Talk and Walk listing puts the November session at Shelter A.
For questions before you go, the listings name Ranger Dane Osis as the contact, at [email protected]. A second contact is listed at [email protected].
Making a Day of Friday, Nov. 13
The Friday hike has company on the park calendar. A Coffenbury Lake bird walk is scheduled the same morning, meeting at South Coffenbury Lake. Both fit into one day-use visit:
- 9:30 a.m.: Meet at South Coffenbury Lake for the bird walk.
- Midday: You have time to eat and drive across the park to Battery Russell.
- 1 p.m.: Join the Wild Mushroom Hike at Battery Russell, with anything you've picked so far ready for identification.
If Friday doesn't work, the Thursday, Nov. 19 hike repeats the Battery Russell route and format. The Sunday Talk and Walk suits anyone who wants some background before going out in the woods.
Every Other Harvest Near Hammond Has a Status Page
Mushrooms are the odd one out among Hammond's November harvests. Crab and clams each come with a state agency that publishes what's open, what's closed and why. Mushrooms in the park come with the gallon rule and nothing comparable.
Here's where shellfish stood heading into mid-November:
| Harvest | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ocean crabbing | Closed Oct. 16 through Nov. 30 | ODFW |
| Crabbing in bays, estuaries, piers and jetties | Open year-round unless closed for toxins or by permanent rule | ODFW |
| Recreational crab | Open coastwide | ODA, updated Oct. 30 |
| Bay clams | Open coastwide | ODA, updated Oct. 30 |
| Razor clams | Closed coastwide for domoic acid | ODA, updated Oct. 30 |
ODFW's marine zone report also says Columbia River boat crabbing has been good. That's useful for anyone launching close to home while the ocean stays closed through the end of the month. The Oregon State Marine Board's Oct. 28 access report lists Hammond Marina as open.
Shellfish status can change between updates. The Oregon Department of Agriculture's shellfish closures page tells harvesters to check its hotline for the latest closures before they head out. ODFW opens its own report with the same instruction.
Mushrooms have no hotline and no coastwide status, so knowing what's in your basket is up to you. In November, the ranger walks at Battery Russell and Coffenbury Lake are a free, local place to start learning.
Keeping It Going After November
Once the ranger walks wrap up, the Oregon Health Authority points people who want to keep learning to the Oregon Mycological Society. The society's calendar includes field trips, classes and camps, some of them for members only. If the Fort Stevens hikes leave you wanting more, that's the next place to look.
Until then, the Poison Center number is 1-800-222-1222. Keep it in your phone for the rest of the season.
Fort Stevens is one of the reasons we love calling the mouth of the Columbia home, and a quiet November afternoon at Battery Russell is about as local as it gets. If you're starting to wonder what your own place near the park is worth these days, Jamay Hadley and the PNW Real Estate Experts team are happy to talk it through, with no pressure. Get a free home valuation whenever you're ready.
