2025 Wildfire Overview by the Numbers

Tech Update

We are pleased to announce that our ALL NEW 2025 burn morel maps will be released on February 14th, 2025.

Members still have the option of web-based maps, but now can also utilize an Android or iOS App too. If you use an iPhone or Android, these maps should really help you upgrade your game.

For a sneak peak of the new maps, find out more at our sister site GeoForager where we host our burn morel maps & apps.

For those of you who are curious and have never used these maps – we are offering a free trial version of both the web maps and phone apps for you to try out the interface.

If you just want the 2025 maps asap, you can get them at geoforager.com on Friday!

The Raw Numbers

2025 could offer an epic burn morel mushroom hunting season with such a large number of wildfires in 2024. When I started the process of reviewing and rating the best wildfire scars to hunt back in December, the numbers were shocking:

I found 3,931 burns totaling 11,372,239 acres 

Top 3 states:

• Oregon: 2,019,794
• Idaho: 1,036,590
• California: 954,503

Plus, British Columbia had 318 burns totaling 2,848,691 acres.

The Findings

I analyzed 11 states (CA, OR, ID, WA, MT, AZ, CO, UT, WY, NM, NV) and studied the 1813 fires in those states, rating 79 of them A rated burns! Those 79 fires totaled 2,183,374 acres.

California

• 9 A rated fires totaling 954,503 acres
• The A rated fires are evenly dispersed in the Cascades from Mt Shasta all the way down to Bakersfield.
• Focus on the Sierra Nevadas; 
• Use our burn severity overlays to find the best “lightly burned” spots in the fires. 

Oregon

• 24 A rated fires totaling 2,019,794 acres
• More A rated fires than any other two states combined
• Oregon has a recent history of closing many of its fires, we shall see!
• There are a lot of smaller B rated fires too, which can be real hidden gems
• Some of the huge fires are in the Southern part of the Ochoco Forest which can be petty fickle. Focus on the northern aspects and higher elevation areas of this dryer habitat – 4.5K or higher!

Idaho

• 10 A rated fires totaling 442,927 acres
• Idaho is probably the second best state this year, after Oregon.
• Lots of fires with geographic and elevation diversity which promises a long fruitful season for morels this year.
• Use our morel probability overlays to focus on areas that will maximize your odds of success.

Washington

• 4 rated fires
• Washington had a lot less A fires this year than in previous years.
• Use our 2023 & 2024 logging maps to find disturbance morels which are a great hunt! They usually fruit earlier than the burn morels.

Montana

• 11 A rated fires totaling 44,539 acres
• Less fires and acreage than past year in Montana

Arizona

• 9 A rated fires totaling 39,992 acres
• The higher the elevations, the greater your chances
• Focus on Douglas firs
• Use our snowpack maps to find the areas with the best snowpack, and therefore the best moisture in this dry climate.

Colorado

• Colorado only has 1 A rated fire totaling 697 ares

Utah

• 5 A rated fires totaling 35,274 acres
• Utah has several pretty nice high-elevation burns that should produce well especially if early summer monsoons come.
• Focus on the high-elevation fires and use our forest maps to find the Engelmann Spruce/subalpine fir forest.

Wyoming

• 4 A rated fires totaling 188,366 acres
• Some of of the A rated fires are small, but, one is quite large with lots of good terrain
• Focus on the high-elevation fires

New Mexico

• 2 A rated fires totalling 23,873 acres
• These two fires look pretty promising with high elevations and dense tree covers
• Hopefully the requisite snowpack with late spring snow showers will bring the morels! 

Nevada

• Like usual, there weren’t many promising fires in Nevada.

As always, with at least average precipitation these A rated fires should produce burn morels. The season is looking up with more snowpack than usual in many locations. Spring will be here sooner than we think, get excited for a great season!