Nature teaches us that even the most complicated tasks can be mastered.
My first visit to Mt. St. Helens was two years after it’s eruption. Our road trip took us along a forest-covered mountain and a curve in the road left us speechless. It was completely barren, and aside from the sky, it felt like we were the only color in this monochromatic landscape. The conical summit of the past was now horseshoe-shaped, ecosystems had vanished, wildlife was gone, and anything resembling life was covered with an eerie, ashen- gray color.
We stared at a portrait of lifelessness.
What next?
Mother Nature had a plan. What looked, and felt disastrous today was a gift to her. The destruction was a merely a canvas for her to paint…. while we watched. You see, there were burrowing animals who survived, trees that grew up from underground roots, and fish under ice-topped lakes.
The nitrogen-fixing lupine tucked their seeds into pumice-covered hillsides gifting the landscape with a trickle of purple the following spring.
And recovery began.
Today trees are being replanted to encourage growth, as ecologists study first hand effects of soil erosion. There is a sequential progression of recovery, and deer are now abundant. So even though there has been hints of help, Mt. Saint Helens is documented proof of what it means to let nature take its course.
And that canvas we talk about will be a work in progress…forever.
Thank goodness.
Never question the power of Mother Nature.
And, never be afraid to start over. That canvas thing? YOU can do that too.
Donna
The Daily Post:Complication Disastrous Soil
It really is an incredible place isn’t, it!?!? If I remember correctly, isn’t there a really long, shady looking bridge you have to go on in order to get there! I have memories of a bridge. I called it the Tinker Toy bridge because it looked just so very long and spindly!
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I wonder if that might be on the Windy Ridge side. It wouldn’t have been built yet when I was there in the 80’s. Most recently, we were at the Johnson Ridge Observatory. Ahh, we need to go back so we can find that bridge. Sounds awesome.
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That could be. We went in 2009. It all did look fairly new. Pretty incredible place! My step-son still teases me about that bridge because I was scared of it! ha
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Thank you.
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Beautiful! I don’t think I ever saw the lupine but being unfamiliar with it I thought fireweed was amazing.
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It’s an amazing place. So much color that was once grey. Thank you for taking time to read.
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I still recall my first visit, maybe 5 years post eruption, being so struck by the massive trees laid down side by side like matchsticks. Power different from what I’d recognized in the past. Returned about 10 years later. Still a great deal of barrenness, accompanied by a great deal of growth and rebirth. Time for a revisit.
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It will forever be awe-inspiring to me. I had one friend who’s only reaction was to cry. She just looked at me and I have nothing to say. Yes… you should go back the visitor centers have grown and roads are even more accessible. Thanks for reading Steph.
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