On Sunday, May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens blew its top. Approximately a two-hour drive from downtown Seattle, the volcano erupted with the force of several atomic bombs.
It blew down and scorched 230 square miles of surrounding forest. In many places, no life survived at all. Yet, three and a half decades later, plants and animals are already sprouting up around Mount St. Helens. It will be another 200 years before hardwood forests dominate the area once more. But as it turns out, the volcano’s destruction was another way in which nature renews itself.
