Back
28· Cooling
Health & Science6h 55m ago
A single honey fungus, Armillaria ostoyae, covering nearly ten square kilometres, has been spreading through the roots of the forest in Oregon’s Blue Mountains for thousands of years.
Archive Window: 30 Days Left
Blue Mountains, Malheur National Forest, eastern Oregon
Who
Greg Whipple, Forest Service worker; Ferguson, Dreisbach, Parks, Filip and Schmitt, Forest Service team
What
A single honey fungus, Armillaria ostoyae, covering nearly ten square kilometres, has been spreading through the roots of the forest in Oregon’s Blue Mountains for thousands of years.
When
Sun, 14 Jun 2026 03:16:01 GMT · 6h 55m ago
Where
Blue Mountains, Malheur National Forest, eastern Oregon ·
Why
The fungus, a root pathogen, feeds by attacking the roots and lower trunks of trees, killing them as it spreads.
The Frontline Impact
How this affects you
This single organism, one of the largest on Earth by area, has spread continuously for millennia, demonstrating the immense scale and longevity that some life forms can achieve underground, silently shaping forest ecosystems.
Story chain
10 events in this thread- Health & Science6h 55m agoBeneath the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, in the Malheur National Forest, a single honey fungus has been spreading through the roots of the forest for thousands of years, now covering nearly ten square kilometres.Open article
- Health & Science6h 55m agoA single honey fungus, Armillaria ostoyae, in Oregon's Malheur National Forest has been spreading through the roots of the forest for thousands of years and now covers nearly 10 square kilometers.Open article
- Health & Science6h 55m agoA single honey fungus, Armillaria ostoyae, in the Malheur National Forest has been spreading through the roots of the forest for thousands of years and now covers nearly ten square kilometres.Open article
- Health & Science6h 55m agoA single honey fungus, Armillaria ostoyae, has been spreading through the roots of the forest in the Malheur National Forest, eastern Oregon, for thousands of years, now covering nearly ten square kilometres.Open article
- Health & Science6h 55m agoBeneath the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, a single honey fungus has been spreading through the roots of the forest for thousands of years, now covering nearly 10 square kilometres.Open article
- Health & Science6h 55m agoBeneath the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, in the Malheur National Forest, a single honey fungus has been spreading through the roots of the forest for thousands of years, now covering nearly ten square kilometres.Open article
- Health & Science6h 55m agoBeneath the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, a single honey fungus has been spreading through the roots of the forest for thousands of years, now covering nearly 10 square kilometres.Open article
- Health & Science6h 55m agoA single honey fungus, Armillaria ostoyae, in the Malheur National Forest, has been spreading for thousands of years and now covers nearly 10 square kilometres.Open article
- Currently Reading6h 55m agoA single honey fungus, Armillaria ostoyae, covering nearly ten square kilometres, has been spreading through the roots of the forest in Oregon’s Blue Mountains for thousands of years.
- Health & Science6h 55m agoBeneath the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, in the Malheur National Forest, a single honey fungus has been spreading through the roots of the forest for thousands of years, now covering nearly ten square kilometres.Open article