Local perceptions of Matsutake mushroom management, in NW Yunnan China

Matsutake mushrooms are among the most prized and expensive mushrooms on earth. Since the 1980s NW Yunnan Province has become the largest exporter of Matsutake in China, and money from their sale has become crucial to local livelihoods and to the provincial tax base. Amid fears of declining productivity, regulations have been enacted to control Matsutake harvest, though enforcement remains largely in the hands of harvesters themselves. Here, we measure local harvesters’ perceptions of the ecological determinants of mushroom productivity in contrast to that of the outsider conservation community. We interview 122 harvesters in eight villages in Diqing province, NW Yunnan to determine what is perceived to be detrimental to Matsutake yield, how yield can be improved in the future and who harvesters trust for information. Our results indicate that village leaders and forestry officials are overwhelmingly the most trusted sources for information. Mann and Whitney U tests show general consensus among villages, and MRPP analysis shows general consensus within villages. One village showed significantly higher levels of trust in NGOs. Of the 86% of harvesters who had perceived declining productivity trends over the past 10 years, soil disturbance, climate change, and habitat degradation were most often-cited as causal factors. Log-linear analysis showed almost no significant interactions between perceptions and harvester demographics. Environmental protection and reducing soil disturbance were most often-cited as potentially increasing future yields. We suggest that local and outsider knowledge are complimentary in this system, and that forestry officials and village leaders provide the best conduits for management information.