St. Helens' recovery may come faster than the forest's

MOUNT ST. HELENS — Forest or mountaintop, which will return first?

In a colossal race between natural processes, scientists are watching geological and ecological forces race each other in real time. Some are beginning to wonder whether the erupting mountain will rebuild its once-conical top before a forest returns to its surroundings.

"It really could be a kind of competition, so to speak," said John Pallister, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Vancouver.

From the windswept pumice plain in the barrel of the Mount St. Helens blast zone, botanist John Bishop is closely tracking the progression of plant and animal life. Bishop, with Washington State University, Vancouver, would place his bet on the mountain.

"It could be that some of these areas never recover to forest, at least not before the next eruption," he said.

Based on the length of time scientists have calculated for a closed-canopy forest to return to an area northeast of the volcano cleared by a huge blowout in the late 15th century, Bishop said it could be at least 200 years for a forest to take root in the harsh environment of the pumice plain.

At the current rate of lava extrusion, meanwhile, scientists figure it will take 160 years for the volcano to rebuild the top 1,314 feet obliterated in the eruption of May 18, 1980.

Bishop is in his 18th summer working near Mount St. Helens.

"It's important to understand the mechanisms and processes that lead to particular plant communities and forests that we value here in the Pacific Northwest," he said. "Here, we're starting from scratch."