Scientists debate public access at Mount St. Helens
Friday, September 26, 2008 12:20 AM PDT
By Leila Summers
Printable version
E-mail this articleAn abundance of fish in Spirit Lake warrants more fishing at the site, a fish expert told the Mount St. Helens Advisory Committee Thursday night.
“Fish growth in Spirit Lake is unprecedented,” said Bob Lucas, a former employee of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife who has studied the lake since the volcano blasted it in 1980.
He encouraged the advisory committee — a panel of local political leaders and citizens examining the future management of Mount St. Helens — to consider easing fishing restrictions while fish numbers are high.
“So they can enjoy the opportunity while it’s still there,” he said.
Lucas told the committee he and other scientists were shocked to discover fish survived the eruption in mud- and timber-filled waters, but they were thriving. Inexplicably, though, fish disappeared from some lakes altogether, he said.
Despite Lucas’ calls for more public access to the Spirit Lake basin, other scientists urged caution, saying the landscape is still evolving and needs protection if it is to continue to be a valuable natural laboratory.
Congress established the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in 1982 for public enjoyment and scientific study, but balancing those uses remains a challenge, said Peter Frenzen, monument scientist.
He urged the committee that land managers need to be “mindful of people wanting to see nature and still have nature for people to see.”
Public interest in Mount St. Helens remains strong and continues to be the subject of international documentaries, said Fred Swanson, geologist for the U.S. Forest Service.
These storytellers, he said, are a “major component of marketing Mount St. Helens to the world.”
He said scientists still are puzzled about why there are biological “hot spot” — where nature is rebounding — and “cold spots,” where it lags.
“We’re trying to learn more about that,” he said, adding “There are places in primitive state of biological development.”
When asked if greater public access posed a threat to biological development, Swanson said “it can be.”
“Introduction of exotic species and disease could be a critical (concern).”
Cynthia Gardner, scientist in charge at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascade Volcanoes Laboratory in Vancouver, called the Mount St. Helens landscape “ a world-class natural laboratory and should be treated as such,” though greater public access probably wouldn’t be a huge problem.
Even after 28 years, scientists continue to be intrigued by St. Helens, she said.
“It is the laboratory we go to test new hypothesis and develop new tools,” she said.
Kelso Resident wrote on Sep 26, 2008 7:37 AM:
loowit wrote on Sep 26, 2008 7:49 AM:
UW Squirrels wrote on Sep 26, 2008 10:24 AM:
Atrucker wrote on Sep 26, 2008 11:31 AM:
MT. To study for the next how many frickin years ?
The lake was a park once , so why not make it a park again . Traffic in there might even speed things up in the recovery process that has gone on for the last 28 years , how long do the geeks need ? Some things will never change , no matter how long you look at it .
Some harvest needs to take place to keep spirt lake a quality fishery , or you end up with alot of stunned fish , or the lake runs out of food .
So geeks , time to give up the over size class room. "
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