2026 burn · morels fruit April to July 2027

Ranger Lake fire: morels in 2027

24 ha burned in the Kootenay-Boundary region, starting Jul 29, 2026. After parks, reserves, conservation land and private parcels are taken out, 24 ha (100%) is open to picking.

Worth a look
100% open to picking · 14% south-facing · roads within 500 m of 100%
Kootenay-Boundary · 1,226–1,267 m
2026 fire perimeter, north up, about 1 km across. Outline only: the app’s map adds roads, parks, reserves and private land.
Burned
24 ha
Open to picking
24 ha · 100%
Elevation
1,226–1,267 m (median 1,240)
Faces
14% south · 57% north
Median slope
8°
Road access
100% within 500 m of a road
Forest zone
ICHdm
District
Rocky Mountain Natural Resource District

How Pickable ranks it

Ranked Worth a look: smaller, steeper, lightly burned or harder to reach. Worth it if you’re nearby. Low, south-facing ground warms first. This burn spans 1,226–1,267 m, so expect the season to start low and move uphill with the snow line.

Burn severity for 2026 isn’t published yet (checked Oct 29, 2026). The ranking uses open ground, aspect, slope and roads; it doesn’t guess at severity.

What’s left out

Land inside the perimeter that isn’t counted as open: Park/ER: Gilnockie Park.

Check before you go

BC Wildfire Service listed this fire as Out on Oct 31, 2026.

Straight-line drive estimates: 1.1 h from Cranbrook, 3 h from Nelson, 3.5 h from Castlegar. Forest service roads can be gated, washed out or deactivated, and Pickable has no live road conditions.

Burns are hazardous ground. Burned trees fall without warning, especially in wind, and burned ground hides holes from roots. Keep out in high wind and check BC Wildfire Service area restrictions before every trip.

Before you eat any

Pickable doesn’t identify mushrooms. True morels are hollow from the tip of the cap to the base of the stem. False morels (Gyromitra) look brain-like or lobed and are chambered or stuffed with cotton-like tissue inside. Cut every one lengthwise. Never eat a wild mushroom on an app’s or a photo’s say-so. If someone may have eaten a poisonous mushroom, call BC Drug and Poison Information Centre at 1-800-567-8911, or 911.

Access

Most BC Crown land is open to picking for your own use without a permit. Parks, ecological reserves, reserve land and conservation lands aren’t, and private land needs permission. This page is a guide built from public data, not legal advice. See the province’s mushroom picking page and the BC Wildfire Service record for N11326, and our data sources.

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More Kootenay-Boundary burns: Matthew Creek · Hope Creek North · Inonoaklin Creek · Wait Creek · all Kootenay-Boundary burns

Data: BC Wildfire Service perimeters, BC parks, reserves, conservation lands and ParcelMap BC, Digital Road Atlas and AWS terrain tiles, pulled Oct 22, 2026. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.

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