Maps of Fungi for the Chicago Region

The menu on the left shows the maps currently posted. These are sets of related maps. In addition I will have a map for each species description page.

The first map shows the 12 counties of Illinois and Indiana.

The second map has these counties divided into sections. Cook County is divided into the City of Chicago and the nine regions used by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. Other counties are divided and some have small units for those areas that have more records, such as Kankakee River State Park in adjoining Will and Kankakee Counties.

The third map has these sections highlighted relative to the amount of fungal documentation from our research, beginning in 1994, and the contributions from the Illinois Mycological Association, as well as the historic records (1876-1993). The darkest 7 sections include research plots. The palest areas have few to no records of fungi.

One thing these maps demonstrate is our lack of knowledge for most of the outlying counties of the Chicago Region. Many of these collar counties have had very little actual documentation of mushrooms and other macrofungi. Cook County is the best known with over 800 species recorded through our plot-based research and also participation of the Illinois Mycological Association. Even so, new species are recorded each year. The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is also well documented. McHenry County, with five years of sampling at multiple sites, has 365 species identified out of a potential 600 species.