Mushroom Hunting Heating up in Wake of Northwest Wildfires.

Mushroom Hunting Heating up in Wake of Northwest Wildfires.

From flames come fungi.

That means mushroom hunters are checking maps outlining last year's many Northwest wildfires before heading into forests this month searching for the easily identifiable and woodsy-tasting morels.

"It's going to be a good season for finding morel mushrooms, there's no doubt about that," said Brian Harris, spokesman for the Payette National Forest in Idaho.

The spongey-looking delicacies have defied commercial cultivation and can retail for $20 a pound.

"They've got a kind of cult following," Boise Co-op North End produce manager Tommy West said. "When they do come into season they usually move pretty good."

Nearly a million acres of U.S. Forest Service land burned last year in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, the National Interagency Fire Center said.

Maps of specific wildfire perimeters are available online at the Forest Service's InciWeb.