With the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, the classic snow-capped volcano was transformed into a smoking asymmetrical crater, virtually a treeless mountain which was now one-third less in height. The atomic-scale explosion hurtled a wall of debris and rock downward and through the Toutle River Valley. This massive mudflow engulfed everything in its path. The mature landscape was transformed into a muddy expanse of strange landforms stripped clean of vegetation and littered with shattered trees that had been snapped at their bases. Today, resembling a recovering battlefield, the landscape is slowly regenerating.

Recognizing the enormous educational and interpretive potential of this major geological event, the USDA Forest Service has sought to create a public monument that will provide visitors with the opportunity to personally view, learn and experience what took place there. The project has become a unique team effort of private and public practitioners in which EDAW, Inc. conducted the site utilization analysis, visual analysis, and landscape and trail design.

Based upon extensive research into the evolutionary systems which are at work, the design team has located facilities and sculptured their surroundings to match and complement ecosystem recovery. When the monument is complete, visitors will be unaware of the effort that has been made to accommodate them. LASN