Spring has come to my new property with tiny wild flowers and baby ferns!!! Nature is amazing! The logging operation on my property left it looking dead and barren like the surface of the moon. It reminds me of what happened after the devastating eruption of Mount Saint Helens, a volcano in Washington State.

On the morning of May 18, 1980 Mount Saint Helens erupted. The largest terrestrial landslide in recorded history reduced the summit by 1,300 feet and triggered a lateral blast. Within 3 minutes, the lateral blast, traveling at more than 300 miles per hour, blew down and scorched 230 square miles of forest. But small plants and trees beneath winter snow, and roots protected by soil, survived the eruption and now thrive. Scientists originally predicted it would take over 20 years for life to begin to return to the scorched forest land. However, within just three years, 90% of the original plant species were found to be growing within the blast zone. The landscape devastated by the eruption has evolved into a rich and diverse habitat for plants and animals.