WILDERNESS AROUND THE WORLD

MOUNT ST. HELENS: The Power of Nature

with Dr. Evelyn Merrill

*Talk starts at 7:00 PM (Doors open at 6:30PM)
*Donations accepted at the door

The eruption of Mount St. Helens in southeastern on 18 May 1980 devastated over 60,000 ha. It killed above ground life, pushed over trees and filled valleys with the debris from the Mountain’s avalanche and pyroclastic flows. The story of early recovery at Mount St. Helens is truly an incredible one that is still on-going as we come up on 35 years. Dr. Merrill narrates the story of survivors and invaders that began building the intricate food webs after the eruption and lessons and surprises learned along the way. She describes the loss of large mammals in the area and recounts her early work on the elk recolonization immediately after the eruption when she tried to unravel why elk moved so rapidly back into an area thought to be so highly devastated and how they coped with such a modified environment. She then gives an overview of how the elk and other animals have fared over the past 35 in the disturbed landscapes under a mix of land management and jurisdictional policies.

To buy tickets, click here.