On Nov. 2, the city of Snoqualmie identified some of the bright red mushrooms appearing on the Snoqualmie Ridge as Amanita Muscaria, otherwise known as Fly Agaric or Fly Amanita, a species of mushroom that is poisonous if ingested.

The mushroom is not fatal to people who eat it, but symptoms can range from nausea and stomach cramps to kidney and liver damage. Phil Bennett, Urban Forester with the Snoqualmie Parks Department, said the city first heard about the mushrooms on Nov. 1.

“A couple of weeks ago, a resident gave us a call and said there were poisonous mushrooms growing in planter strip between street and sidewalk,” Bennett said. “I found them on Fairway Avenue and Douglas on Snoqualmie Ridge.”

Bennett identified the mysterious mushroom as Amanita Muscaria and looked for evidence of some of the more dangerous species of that mushroom.

“That (Amanita Muscaria) family does have some other ones that are very deadly to humans and someone had reported one of those but I found no evidence of this,” he said.

In his six years working for the city of Snoqualmie, Bennett has not seen that species of mushroom in the area and says this fall’s wet weather is probably what caused them to grow. The Amanita Muscaria will not be removed as they are very beneficial to other plants like trees.

“We did not remove them, it wasn’t worth it because it is a naturally occurring phenomenon, mushrooms are hugely beneficial, trees rely on them for uptake of water and nutrients.” he said. “It wouldn’t be a good use of city time and resources and also the vast majority of that mushroom is underground in mycelial webs and removing the flower doesn’t remove the mushroom.”

Bennett emphasized that if a person does not have a deep understanding of mushroom species and what is and is not edible, then they should not pick them in the wild and eat them.