Mount St Helens Response

Before the eruption of Mount St Helens, people had built summer camps and other recreation activities around the base of the volcano. This is a positive interaction

Before the eruption, the area was forested and was the best place int he world to harvest douglas fir trees due to the rich soil mixtures. This is a negative interaction because the ecosystem and plant life are being negatively affected by the deforestation.

After the eruption the surrounding forests had been destroyed, foresting companies had started to replant the destroyed forest. This is a positive interaction because it is a rebuilding of the ecosystem.

 

INTERVIEW:

I interviewed my dad who was 10 years old in Kamloops at the time.

What I mostly remember is the story of Harry Truman, he lived in a lodge on spirit lake. He was always being interviewed because his lodge was on the opposite side of the lake from mt st Helens. And he refused to leave, he said nope I refuse to go I’ve been here all my life. As much of the shock of the eruption was because I was 10 and it was amazing. What I remember most is realizing that he died. He was killed by the pyroclastic flow and they don’t know where his lodge is but its assumed that it’s buried. I remember waiting for the ash to come to Kamloops because you could see the piles and piles of ash in the toodle river. About two years later we drove down and the roads had been cleared and the ash was just piled up on the side of the road. I remember the big piles of ash. I remember being disappointed by the amount of ash that we got because it was just nothing. All we got was literally a trace amount. If you look at all the maps of the fallout they all basically end at the border. Most of it went east of the mountain but what came north was just meh. I remember being fascinated by how Seattle looked like it was covered in snow but it was ash. It was stunning how the forest had laid down but none of the trees had branches. All I remember thinking that Harry had died in such a horrific way when I was the pictures. One day you went outside and your car was covered in a bit of dust. I remember the months of its going to erupt and it was a surprise when it did. It wasn’t until days afterward that we learned how much destruction happened. With all the forest being knocked down, not many thought about what must have happened to Harry. I remember all the physical thing, the trees with no branches, the earthquakes. But mostly I remember Harry Truman