Mount St. Helens is seen in June at the Windy Ridge Interpretive Site.
On May 18, exactly 36 years after Mount St. Helens blew her top all over Southwest Washington, scientists will gather in its truncated shadow in order to titillate the public with special presentations.
The presentations will take place at the Johnston Ridge Observatory Theatre and, according to a press release, they will showcase “the scientific discoveries and personal connections that make Mount St. Helens a special place.”
From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Ken Creager, an Earth and space sciences specialist from the University of Washington, will give a presentation on the pool of magma that sits beneath the topless mountain. According to a press release, the preliminary results from the Imaging Magma Under St. Helens (iMush) project have provided a new glimpse into the location and structure of the magma beneath the mountain.
The iMUSH project is a four-year-long collaborative effort sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Using seismic and electromagnetic technology, it is one of the most comprehensive experiments ever conducted on a volcano.
From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Nathan Reynolds, an ecologist with the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, will give a presentation on the historical cultural importance of the mountain and its goats to the tribe. A press release noted, “For thousands of years, the ancestors of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe annually traveled to the slopes of Mount St. Helens/Lawetlat’la to hunt mountain goats and collect wool.” In the years since the big eruption the mountain has been recolonized by mountain goats and now boasts a growing population of more than 100 sure-footed ungulates. Tribal members are again gathering wool from the mountainside in an effort to reconnect with their culture and relearn the lost art of weaving goat wool.
Johnston Ridge Observatory will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily beginning May 14. Additional information on the magma imaging project can be found at iMUSH.org. Additional information on the eruption presentations can be obtained by email from Peter Frenzen at pfrenzen@fs.fed.us.
