Path to Renewal

Mount St. Helens split in half during May 1980, scouring the landscape for miles around the volcano's base.

But since the eruption – the largest recorded landslide in recorded history – life has been creeping back in among the still dangerously unstable fields of ash and debris.

To navigate the area, park crews have been busy crafting new trails around areas prone to collapse and recovering timber knocked down by the blast.

The debris field is now home to thousands of small ponds and a re-established ecosystems of insects and amphibians.

—LiveScience Staff

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