(helicopter whirring)
- Mount Saint Helens.
To early Native Americans, the steam plumes
were signs of warring spirits
and they dared not scale its peak.
To people of the 1980s,
it's eruption was an unparalleled natural occurrence
that forever changed the perfect face
of what some called America's Mount Fuji.
(air blowing)
In the aftermath of the explosion,
officials were scurrying to decide the best way
to take care of some of the problems
a volcanic eruption can cause modern civilization.
(tires squealing)
(woman frantically screaming)
In addition to all the ash that fell,
one of the major problems was erosion.
Millions of cubic yards of volcanic wreckage surged
down the mountain during the eruption,
swelling the rivers with debris.
The North Fork of the Toutle River
was reported to be carrying sediment downstream faster
than the Nile or the Amazon.
This brought the threat of enormous flooding in the winter,
as well as wind erosion of the lighter top layers of debris.
20 million dollars in federal emergency relief funds
were given to the Soil Conservation Service
to quell the fears of erosion.
Part of the plan,
(seeds falling)
seed and chemically fertilize about 20 thousand acres
around the mountain.
Some of those seeds landed here, in the Toutle River Valley.
- I guess the overriding reason to seed
was for emergency watershed protection,
and the primary objective was to control
or prevent downstream sedimentation.
- [Narrator] Jack Carlson of the Soil Conservation Service
remembers the project.
There was an immediate demand
for a half a million pounds of seeds.
(helicopter whirring)
Because native species are not in demand commercially,
they had to go with planting the more plentiful,
exotic or non-native species,
like rye grass and clover,
rather than those that occur naturally in the forest.
- That's just been our culture and tradition
in erosion control work for the past 50 years.
And these non-native species we essentially brought
them over from Europe, and our ancestors knew
that they worked well, and so we've essentially transplanted
our culture here to the Pacific Northwest.
And we estimate that approximately 2.5 million tons
of sediment was kept on the slopes
as a result of the seeding.
- [Narrator] It seemed logical that through this plan,
coordinated by the SCS, and participated
in by several other agencies,
erosion would be stopped,
surrounding communities would be protected,
and the forest possibly restored quicker.
It was not to be that simple.
Approximately one third to one half of the seeding failed
to do it's job, due to either not being able to take root
in unfriendly terrain, or being planted after the erosion
had simply run its course.
Later, some discovered erosion was actually positive
in that it uncovered native plants
that had survived the blast.
But most disturbing, is that some, especially those
in the scientific community, considered the introduction
of non-native species near a national monument
an ecological disaster.
Peter Frenzen, monument scientist
for Mount Saint Helens explains why.
- You have a once in a lifetime opportunity
to study the process that has shaped the forest
of the Cascade Mountains.
And so, from the standpoint of a scientist studying
a natural process, it's really a negative thing
because you're not able to see
what nature would do on its own
to recover the area around the volcano.
The biggest ill effect of introduced species
in this area is just the physical taking
of the growing space.
(soil shifting)
It's a solid mat of lots and lots and lots of fine roots.
And if you were a seed landing on this,
you can imagine the amount of water,
any of the available water on the surface
is exploited and taken up by these roots.
A lot of the available nutrients
are also taken up by these as well.
So to land here is to land in the company
of something that's already moved in
and taken up all the available resources to grow here.
- [Narrator] The possible squelching of native vegetation
around Mount Saint Helens,
irked the scientific community enough
for almost a thousand biologists
to sign a petition urging officials
to dump the seeding idea all together.
But to no avail.
- [Interviewer] Do you feel a little bit maybe
like your laboratory has been destroyed?
- I don't know if it's been destroyed,
it's certainly been forever altered
and somewhat compromised.
- [Narrator] An area had been designated around the mountain
as a national monument, not to be touched
by the seeding project.
But exotics are creeping over the boundaries,
due to wind, and one species here
that has made an amazing comeback
as a result of the seeding project: elk.
The abundant grasses here are excellent forage for them,
so this is a popular, thriving winter range.
- [Peter] But the other thing is,
these seeds are being moved around.
They're being moved upstream by elk that feed
on these seeds here, and carry 'em upstream
and deposit them in their feces
while they feed in the monument.
- We've looked as some satellite photos
and it doesn't appear that there's a sloth
of green vegetation that's marching up the,
marching up the mudflow, but apparently
there are some patches here and there
where the seeded species are starting
to appear in the monument.
- [Narrator] The elk also like to nibble
on the young trees that are trying
to get re-established here, like this willow.
And they like to rub their horns on trees
that have managed to get a little bigger, like this alder.
- And that can be quite damaging
and in some cases kills the tree's back.
- [Narrator] The SCS says they can apply
what they've learned from this project
to similar situations, such as a large burn.
And if they had to do it again,
they would seed smaller areas and insist on native plants.
- [Jack] We did not use native plants,
and from my own personal point of view,
we should have used natives.
The unfortunate part was is they're just not available
in commercial quantities at all.
- [Narrator] Still, exotic or native,
the question of whether there should
have been seeding at all, remains.
- In the last 40 thousand years,
Mount Saint Helens has erupted dozens and dozens of times.
We have an opportunity to see one particular chapter happen,
you know, in our lifetimes and then to study the aftermath,
and the effects of that,
and to watch how an entire ecosystem
is assembled one species at a time.
That looks like a wild rose.
(water flowing)
You know, if you think about it, our perspective
in the earth we live on, our perspective
is that it's a very static earth.
I mean, we take for granted that our house is there
and our neighborhood is there,
and then you come back in a year, it'll be there,
you come back in 10 years, it'll be there.
- [Narrator] But on May 18th, 1980
Mount Saint Helens shook our perspective.
She pushed civilization back and gave us a chance
to see life appear from the beginning.
In 200 years, no one will be able to tell this happened.
But for now, we wait and watch,
hoping humankind hasn't drastically altered
the pristine palette.
Our momentary glimpse into the evolution of nature.
(wind blowing)