The massive volcanic eruption of
Mount St. Helens 31 years ago provided
the perfect backdrop for studying the
earliest stages of forest development.
Immediately after the eruption, some
areas of the blast area were devoid
of life. On other parts of the volcanic
landscape, many species survived,
although their numbers were greatly
reduced. Reassembly began at many
different starting points along the
spectrum of disturbance. Within the
national volcanic monument, natural
regeneration generally has been
allowed to proceed at its own pace.
Charlie Crisafulli and Fred Swanson,
scientists with the Pacific Northwest
Research Station, along with numerous
collaborators, have found that the sunlit
environment, dominated by shrubs,
herbs, and grasses that characterize
early-seral ecosystems, supports complex
food webs involving numerous
herbivores. These biologically rich
areas provide habitat for plant and
animal species that are either found
only in these early-seral ecosystems or
reach their highest densities there.
Although much of the focus of forest
ecosystem management over the past
20 years in the Pacific Northwest has
been on protecting old forests and
hastening development of conditions
associated with older forests, the
research on Mount St. Helens points
to the ecological value of allowing a
portion of a managed landscape to
develop characteristics of a complex
early-seral ecosystem
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