Mount Saint Helen located in the southwestern corner of Washington state erupted in 1980. The eruption was more forceful than 500 times that of the bombing of Hiroshima. It was not just one single event. Several different natural forces created the resulting explosion. Virginia Dale was one of the first ecologist to study the eruption. She expected to find complete devastation but was shocked to find pockets of life on the mountain. The mountain did not follow traditional succession models. Virginia determined that the climate and weather played an important role in this non-traditional succession. In the last couple of decades over 150 different plant species and several animal species have returned to the affected area. This had
