The Claudius Project – Poisonous Mushrooms in Virginia, a Zoom Presentation with Kevin Howe
Date/Time
Thursday, March 5, 2026
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Categories
Find Zoom access link here.
With a recent increase in mushroom poisoning, University of Virginia Health and Virginia Master Naturalists formed a team to research, write and produce a guide to Poisonous Mushrooms in Virginia. This two-year project, called the “Claudius Project”, recently completed the 127-page guide which contains descriptions and color photographs of the most significant poisonous mushrooms found in Virginia. This publication is now available online and may be downloaded at no cost.
This presentation by Kevin Howe, one of the authors on the project, will discuss poisonous mushrooms in Virginia as well as introduce the publication.
The presentation will be followed by a demonstration walk later in the year.
About Kevin Howe
Kevin grew up in California and did his undergraduate work at University of California, Berkeley, followed by graduate schools at California
Photo Credit – Phillip Merritt
State Sonoma (M.S.) and Oregon State University (Ph.D.) focusing on Ichthyology (the study of fish) and Aquatic Ecology.
Thereafter, he taught at Willamette University, University of Southern Mississippi, Oregon State University and University of Washington. Teaching included ichthyology, conservation biology, vertebrate zoology, field biology, aquatic ecology. At various times, he also worked for The Nature Conservancy, US EPA, and the Smithsonian Institution. He retired in 2015.
His research interests focused primarily on aquatic biology ranging from ecology of desert spring ecosystems to the community ecology and distribution of fishes in the Eastern Pacific, Gulf of Alaska, Bering and Arctic Seas to population modeling of salmon populations in freshwater streams to natural history museum exhibit design and the learning environment therein.
Kevin is a Master Naturalist, a Vice President, Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS), and a Vice President, Northern Neck Chapter, VNPS.