Minnesota foragers face another year without clear guidance

MINNEAPOLIS - The growing number of people who hunt for mushrooms and berries in the wilds of Minnesota will need to wait at least one more year for clearer guidelines on foraging, while the state says it's trying to be more transparent.

A bill that aimed to boost foraging on Minnesota public lands cleared a key Senate committee but stalled before the legislative session ended Sunday. There was less appetite to support foraging in the House.

"While we are disappointed it will not reach the finish line this year, this is not the end of the effort," said Sen. Susan Pha, who wrote the legislation.

The legislation was a the result of recommendations from a state task force established by the Legislature last session and chaired by Pha. The task force included legislators, Department of Natural Resources appointees, foraging experts, tribal members and natural resources educators.

The Minnesota Foraging Act sought to codify foraging into law and to legitimize it as a form of recreation.

Peter Martignacco, Minnesota Mycological Society president and a member of the task force, estimated that about 200,000 people regularly forage at different levels in Minnesota.

Pha's bill passed out of the Senate Environment, Climate and Legacy Committee. Rep. Roger Skraba, vice chair, introduced a bill in the House that made no progress.

Pha, DFL-Brooklyn Park, remained hopeful in an e-mail to the Minnesota Star Tribune. The legislation, she said, was "an important first step and showed strong interest."

Skraba, an Ely Republican, said there were no openings for his bill to get a hearing amid higher-priority legislation. Still, like Pha, he said he anticipates more discussions among foraging groups, the DNR and other stakeholders like tribal communities to refine legislation that will have a better chance next year.

The sentiment is "if we don't get it done this year, we still want to work on this. We want dialogue," he said Monday.

The bill in the Senate was impeded because it was "really complex" and heard late in the session, Assistant DNR Commissioner Bob Meier said.

Among other proposals, the legislation sought to expand Minnesotans' ability to harvest edibles and provide clearer communication about what is allowable and where.

"The initiative is very important to us, one that we still want to see some resolution to," he added. "Provide clarity to our rules, our websites, our information, all of those things that were in the bill."

Commissioner Sarah Strommen and Meier met last week with Pha about continuing to work on legislation "that can be fully supported from all groups and that has a path forward to get implemented," Meier said.

The DNR already is attempting to shore up and update its foraging information online, one of the takeaways from task force discussions, said John Waters, DNR government relations unit supervisor.

"You have to know where to go [to forage] and how to do it," he said.

Harvesting plants is of heightened concern. In general, the public doesn't know it's prohibited for personal use, Waters added, "and that's where we need to meet people where they're at and better communicate that."

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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 2:41 AM.