A gifted student (and valedictorian candidate), Garrett left high school early to join an early entrance program at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY. There, his studies ranged from Engineering and Innovation to Management and Entrepreneurship. While in college, he arranged to take a year of cooperative education, in which he got to fully focus on his new business, which he called Birch Boys.

During this year building his business, Garrett entered several startup competitions. He placed 2nd at Wake Forest’s Retail Health Innovation Challenge, winning $10,000. Additionally, he won $2,500 at the North Country New York Business Plan Competition, won a $25,000 grant from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, and was able to secure seed funding to expand Birch Boys. While Birch Boys was on the rise, Mimi’s battle with cancer progressed and she passed away not long after. To honor her memory, and with momentum building, Garrett resolved to carry forward Mimi’s deep connection to Chaga through Birch Boys.

Garrett had another close personal encounter with cancer, and with the healing potential of functional fungi. His dog Joey developed a mast cell tumor, which inspired Garrett to research other fungi that can help support immune health. He made Joey a special custom diet that included Chaga, Turkey Tail, and a few other mushroom supplements. Incredibly, Joey’s health rebounded in a significant way after adding mushrooms to his diet. This experience further cemented Garrett’s belief in the power of these healing mushrooms and deepened his resolve to make them available as far and wide as possible.

Birch Boys now leases over 220,000 acres of wild forest land inside the Adirondack Park of New York. Because of Garrett’s multi-generational connection to the Adirondack forest, he has a deeply rooted desire to protect and defend the forest from misguided practices in industries that threaten the sustainability and health of the forest. Garrett has become a leading advocate for sustainable forestry practices, and has been featured in interviews with Shroomer, Modern Farmer, and New York Makers. Under his leadership, Birch Boys has grown into a vertically integrated enterprise—owning every step of the process from sustainable wild harvesting to processing in Birch Boys Fungi Factory in Garrett’s home town of Tupper Lake, NY.

• Founder & CEO, Birch Boys
• Certified Mushroom Identification Expert, New York State
• Featured in Shroomer, Modern Farmer, New York Makers
• Advocate for sustainable harvesting in the Adirondack Park
• Directed “Forever Wild Chaga” documentary

Forever Wild Chaga documents Garrett Kopp’s quest to preserve wild Chaga in a rapidly changing world. This documentary dives deep into the complexities of sustainable harvesting, confronting the real threats to Chaga’s survival—from industrial logging to deforestation.