Mount St. Helens 2025 Science Pulse
| Authors: | Donald J. Brown, Virginia H. Dale, Katey Queen, Shannon Claeson, James E. Gawel, Tara Chestnut |
| Year: | 2026 |
| Type: | Scientific Journal |
| Station: | Pacific Northwest Research Station |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1002/bes2.70068 |
| Source: | The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America |
Abstract
In July 2025, 73 scientists, students, managers, and educators from 23 institutions gathered to “take the pulse” of ecological responses and change in the aftermath of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, located in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, was established in 1982 to support research, education, and recreation around the volcano while letting the blast zone recover with minimal human intervention (Public Law 97-243). Mount St. Helens is now the most well-studied volcano in the world for ecological research (Swanson and Crisafulli 2018). The idea of scientific pulses at Mount St. Helens was originated by Jerry Franklin in 1981 and has occurred at 5-year intervals since the 1990s (except for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Pulses are organized by the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, with the most recent Pulse hosted by a nonprofit partner, the Mount St. Helens Institute.