Summer Reading 2025: Remembering Mount St. Helens: Epilogue: After the Blast

The eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, was the most catastrophic and deadly volcanic event ever experienced in the United States. That event had the force of thousands of atom bombs and destroyed 234 square miles of forestland. This highly visual book tells the scientific and human story of that cataclysm and the remarkable recovery that has occurred. Some surprising facts are that the late winter of 1980 contributed to the survival of some hibernating animals; the larger mammals, including elk, brown bears, and cougars have all returned; and unaffected forests quickly spread to cover areas that were wiped out by lava flows.,As plants, animals, and people have reclaimed Mount St. Helens over the last 20 years, the mountain remains a looming reminder of an event that forever changed the face of the Northwest. Essays and photos document the events that surrounded the eruption.

On May 18, 1980, people all over the world watched with awe and horror as Mount St. Helens erupted. Fifty-seven people were killed and hundreds of square miles of what had been lush forests and wild rivers were to all appearances destroyed.","Ecologists thought they would have to wait years, or even decades, for life to return to the mountain, but when forest scientist Jerry Franklin helicoptered into the blast area a couple of weeks after the eruption, he found small plants bursting through the ash and animals skittering over the ground. Stunned, he realized he and his colleagues had been thinking of the volcano in completely the wrong way. Rather than being a dead zone, the mountain was very much alive.","Mount St. Helens has been surprising ecologists ever since, and in After the Blast Eric Wagner takes readers on a fascinating journey through the blast area and beyond. From fireweed to elk, the plants and animals Franklin saw would not just change how ecologists approached the eruption and its landscape, but also prompt them to think in new ways about how life responds in the face of seemingly total devastation.