Life Returns to the Blast Zone

When 22-year-old research ecologist Charlie Crisafulli arrived at Mt. St. Helens two months after the massive 1980 eruption, the pristine old-growth forest he remembered was gone. In its place he discovered a lifeless, volcanic wasteland. The deadliest eruption in U.S. history, the event killed 57 people, incinerated or flattened roughly 230 square miles of forest, and decimated the area's wildlife. Crisafulli spent the next 30 years at Mt. St. Helens closely studying and documenting the landscape's slow recovery. In this audio slide show, he shares some of his photos taken over three decades and tells the story of how life returned to the blast zone.—Kristine Allington

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