Sue Van Hook is a mycologist, naturalist, teacher and healer.  She has been studying the taxonomy and ecology of fungi for the past 40 years, having begun her coursework in the Pacific Northwest where the mushroom season lasts 9 months of the year.  She completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees in botany and mycology at Humboldt State University under the tutelage of Dr. David L. Largent, an authority on pink-spored mushrooms and author of the How to Identify Mushrooms series of books.  Sue worked for 5 years in land conservation for The Nature Conservancy managing a Northern California Coastal Dunes Preserve where she also conducted her graduate fieldwork.  She moved to Belgrade Maine in the mid-eighties and worked as Director of Land Conservation and Stewardship for Maine Coast Heritage Trust.  For 18 years she taught biology and environmental science labs at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY and currently works as the Chief Mycologist for a new Green Tech company, Ecovative Design in Troy, NY.