Our Passion
About us
When our founder was 17 she saw soil pollution in her post-industrial town. This started her quest for sustainable, inexpensive soil remediation. Dr. Lauren Czaplicki became a pioneer in environmental engineering, figuring out how to coax local soil fungi to clean up legacy pollution. Now Fungal Solutions collaborates on a range of mycotechnologies, from those that remove human poop from the backcountry to those that help us resist climate change by recycling carbon back into soils.
We started with some of the the toughest pollutants and the toughest medium to clean:soils. Fungal Solutions grew out of Dr. Lauren Czaplicki’s doctoral work coaxing local fungi to break down creosote in soils. We spent years learning about mycelium and how it provides more for us than just mushrooms. Then, we started thinking about other large, seemingly intractable problems that could benefit from fungal interventions: wildfire, reforestation, mining pollution.
We started a series of short courses to empower others to save their corners of the world with fungi too. We just can’t do it alone.
Dr. Lauren Czaplicki teaches a quarterly training on mycotechnologies to equip concerned citizens and environmental professionals with skills to use local fungi to solve local problems. Fungal Solutions also offers direct remediation consulting services.
Join The Path to Fungal Solutions
Upcoming training Programs
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soil centered Myco-reclamation & Mycoremediation training
Course Length: 4 hours
Price: $444/participant, 10% group discount on 8 participants or more
Purpose and Background
Environmental consulting firms are in need of more tools to address the needs of Oil & Gas clients. This is a short course designed to equip environmental professionals with skills to leverage local fungi to solve troublesome reclamation issues, both in areas with active spills as well as in areas with difficult revegetation. Incorporating fungal agents into reclamation and remediation programs will help plants establish and tolerate adverse conditions as well as speed the transformation of lingering hydrophobic contaminants.
Learning Outcomes and Training Benefits
Participants will gain an understanding of the procedures available for identifying native and missing soil fungi, how to encourage fungal growth, and be able to determine which type of fungi are appropriate for reclamation and restoration cases.
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Determine appropriate design steps of both reclamation and restoration strategies
- Name key partners for executing a successful project
- Identify evaluation strategies to tell if the strategy is working
Assessment of Learning Outcomes
Participant achievement of the learning outcomes will be assessed via a short post-assessment group activity
Intended Audience
The environmental professional looking for an edge in soil remediation and reclamation, as fungi are often overlooked key agents in natural attenuation of recalcitrant compounds. They are also useful in reclaiming tough-to-revegetate areas as they can help plants establish and tolerate adverse conditions.
Seminar Outline
- Mycoremediation Fundamentals
- Mycoremediation Key Steps for Reclamation
- Mycoremediation Key Steps for Polluted Soil Restoration
- Mycoremediation Pilot Program Design & Evaluation
This program includes a reference manual with key concepts and fundamentals, design steps, and small-group activities to demonstrate knowledge.
Your Office
101 Anywhere Ave
Everywhere, USA
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soil centered Myco-reclamation & Mycoremediation Fundamentals
Course Length: 1 hour
Price: $444/lunch & learn
Purpose and Background
Environmental consulting firms are in need of more sustainable tools to address the needs of Oil & Gas clients. This lunch-and-learn introduces environmental professionals to fundamental concepts in mycoremediation and mycoreclamation, incorporating fungi into strategies to break down pollution and encourage pre-disturbance site conditions. Building fungal agents into reclamation and remediation programs will help plants establish and tolerate adverse conditions as well as speed the transformation of lingering hydrophobic contaminants.
Learning Outcomes and Training Benefits
Participants will recognize the difference between useful fungi for mycoremediation and mycoreclamation, describe how fungi improve strategy success and how to find appropriate fungi to partner with plants.
Upon completion of this seminar, you will be able to:
- Describe the mechanism of mycoremediation & why it works
- Name key databases to use to identify useful fungi
- Describe the reasoning behind enhancing revegetation efforts using fungi
Assessment of Learning Outcomes
Participant achievement of the learning outcomes will be assessed via a short post-assessment group activity
Intended Audience
The environmental professional looking for an edge in soil remediation and reclamation, as fungi are often overlooked key agents in natural attenuation of recalcitrant compounds. They are also useful in reclaiming tough-to-revegetate areas as they can help plants establish and tolerate adverse conditions.
Seminar Outline
- Mycoremediation History
- Mycoremediation Mechanism & Fungal Abilities
- The Plant-Fungal Connection
- Activity: Identifying Useful Fungi
This program includes a reference handout with key concepts and fundamentals.
Your Office
101 Anywhere Ave
Everywhere, USA
Join The Path to Fungal Solutions
Past Training Programs
18 August 2023/9:00A-12:00P
TMF Pre-Fest Workshop: soil centered mycoremediation
Come discover high-impact skills to solve industrial pollution & wildfires at this pre-fest workshop to the Telluride Mushroom Festival. In this course, Dr. Lauren Czaplicki will show you the path to local fungal solutions. You’ll think like a fungi or a fungal and intuitively uncover strategies to coax fungi to help us become more resilient. She’ll teach you how to research possible pollution sources, understand how the wood rotting fungi and beyond use their abilities to degrade tough pollutants in soils, and create a fungal approach to a pollution problem!
You’ll also learn how fungi can prevent catastrophic wildfire and how they help forests recover after fires. You’ll leave feeling safer, armed with the knowledge of how to start saving your community. This course also includes a guidebook to reference at any time.
AhHaa Curiosity Shop
155 W. Pacific Ave
Telluride, CO
Our Collaborations
What we do
Short courses & workshops
We offer quarterly short courses on mycotechnologies tailored for participant’s concerns.
We teach participants critical skills to leverage local fungi to solve local problems.
Consultations & Collaboration
We leverage our deep scientific expertise and network of collaborators to help other environmental entrepreneurs advance mycotechnologies.
We have a host of mycotechnologies we’re co-creating with the mycelium and collaborators.
We also offer direct soil remediation services.
Seminars & Keynote Lectures
Dr. Lauren Czaplicki shares compelling narrative on mycoremediation and navigating burnout as an environmental professional to mushroom festivals, podcasts, corporate conferences, and environmentally-centered interest groups.
Featured Fungal Solutions
What we develop
WILDFIRE Prevention & Recovery
Wildfire Prevention
Local fungi rot wood naturally. We accelerate it with the Cold Fire process so that woodchips from fire mitigation activities turn into forest soil in 3-5 years without any irrigation, saving CO from runaway controlled burns, adverse impacts to air quality, and making the landscape safe for historic, low intensity fire to return.
learn more about cold fire below, based on a pilot study on private land in Pikes Peak National Forest
now in aspen, colorado
Wildfire Recovery
Local fungi help restore soil integrity post-fire. We are developing a mycotechnology to accelerate this recovery process so that we can save our forests before it’s too late.
Read about the urgency in an engaging, accessible way from the Guardian
Read the original research article below
Soil Restoration & Remediation
Superfund Sites & Organic Contaminants
Local soil fungi don’t just stop at productive agricultural soils. They’re even in creosote-oozing polluted soils and can break down all sorts of contaminants if adequately identified and supported.
We Are Live
Dr. Czaplicki shares how Local Fungi can break down pollutants
Interviews featuring Dr. Lauren Czaplicki
Podcasts & Media
Interested in learning more? Check out the collection of media featuring us.
- “Bierend writes with sensual verve and specificity, enthusiasm, and humor. . . . [He] introduces us to the staggering variety of mushrooms, their mystery, their funk, and the way they captivate our imaginations.”—The Boston Globe
- Available in audiobook, kindle versions too
English