Mount St. Helens Remains A Mystery to Ecologists | Oregon Field Guide 

I remember in 1975, my family & I lived about 20 miles away from Mt. St Helens. I was only 5 years old. We would drive to Spirit Lake about once a week to get our feet wet, enjoy the beautiful scenery & watch the Wildlife. We even met an old man named Jack I think? I was young, but I remember he was a character & love to tell stories .He lived in a cabin down at the bottom by the lake. He told us he would never move from this beautiful place & the only thing that would make him move is if the mountain buried him!....& strangely it did 5 years later! I remember one weekend we went to the lake, like we always did and part of the lake was gone! Where the water was supposed to be, there was a big hole in the ground and it was growling real loud. I remember thinking as a little kid.....that hole was a path straight to hell! Now I was a little kid, but it seemed like to me that this whole that opened up & swallowed part of the lake was plenty big enough for a car to fall into.. yes my mother did refresh my memory over the years, just in case you're thinking "how could a 5 year old kid remember this?" It is a true story and I do remember this. I always wondered why no one ever talked about the hole in the ground that swallowed up part of spirit lake in 1975. Are there any videos talking about this? has anyone else ever heard about this? It wasn't the whole lake. it was only part of Spirit Lake, back in 1975 or the latter part of 74.

Loved this video, wish there were more recent ones to see how much more has changed in the 13 years since this was filmed.

The resurgence of life doesn't surprise me as much as there are still floating logs, that's incredible.

Its 2020, be nice to see an updated version of Mt St Hellens recovery. As for the trout, could the eggs have survived to replenish Spirit Lake?

I miss the 1980s and 1990's Oregon field guide. I miss the faces and the voices. I miss my mom and dad on Thursdays. The TV that broadcasted the episodes, as I have this broadcasted via my phone. We haven't turned the TV on in years. It's tablets and computers and phones. Happy sadness.

I've hiked it twice and it has a very special place in my heart. This guy is awesome. He knows everything there is to know about the place since the eruption. That is just plain cool.

Very interesting. Earth repairs itself vastly faster than previous scientists had theorized. This brings to mind words written by BensonPast: “In the wonders of life, there are mysteries abound. We think we understand, but we know no more than an infant in the perspectives of true reality. Every journey is a solo, no matter how large the crowd around us. The only true landmark we have is ourselves. That is our companion in the journey of life.” If the Yellowstone super-volcano goes off, we can expect the land to repair itself in fifty years or so; based on what we have seen with Mt. St. Helens...

I wish I could have seen Mount St. Helens before the eruption. It looks heavenly in the old films.

That's incredible. I'd studied the blast in school, but I never knew how well Spirit Lake and the amphibian population bounced back.

This was a surprising study. Remarkably well presented and shows us that we need to study much more. Wow! This video needs to be watched more.

Life, um, finds a way.

The wonders of Mt. Saint Helens are among the most fascinating I have ever encountered. Regarding the mysterious repopulation of fish in the lake: Admiral, there be trout here!

An amazing study of the ecology of Mt. St. Helen and the wonderful dedication of Charley Crisafulli.

i've been to mt st helens a few times over the years and it is still the eeriest place i have ever been to.

AND WE WANT AN UPDATE IN 2020!!!!!

Beautiful. Mother and Father Nature have outsmarted us again.

I was 6, almost 7, years old back then. I was playing in the front yard in Troutdale, Or. when my mother told me to look over at the mountain as it was erupting. It was pretty neat and scary. it seemed like it was for years afterward that I remember playing near the storm drains in the built up ash deposits that all looked like miniature river beds. Folks started collecting that ash and stuffing it *into pens and anything else that could be marketed and sold. We use to have a plot up there where the family would all gather and camp, Gone.

Rainbow Trout habitat is usually the oxygen rich water in mountain streams, not a lake. Even though they get plenty to eat in Spirit Lake, it's still much harder for them to breath. Seems a likely suspect.

Hats off to this researcher!!

Fish wind up in isolated mine pits. Apparently waterfoul bring them in. Why do they have to be planted?

Random videos like these that show up in recommendations are the best. Hidden Gems!

I ate trout tonight. And listened to The Trout. Yummm.

I've been reading many of the comments. Professor Glen Moore put it succinctly- "There is a difference between human cunning and Divine Wisdom."

I love it when Nature behaves in ways scientists say it shouldn't.

Thank you! This is fabulous ~ one of the few gov't workers that is really doing intelligent projects.

The trout could have been in one of the cave systems during the eruption and just came out afterwards. I've seen rainbows in quite a few caves that move from lakes or rivers to underground for some reason.

Great video, accompanied by some of THE most ignorant comments I have ever read.

Everyone who's had a fish tank knows that if you put a small fish in a HUGE tank and feed it like crazy, it's gonna get huge. Take a fish that should grow huge and put it in a small tank, and it will stay small regardless of how much you feed it. Empty lake with no fish... But tons of bugs = HUGE fish once they get back into the lake. I know where I'm planning my next vacation fishing trip...

David A. Johnston, 30, was a volcanologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He was monitoring Mount St. Helens from an observation post called Coldwater II on the day it erupted, according to the USGS. The post was thought to be relatively safe but was destroyed in the disaster.

Maybe because of the massive amount of biological material decaying, feeding the basic life-forms, feeding the next up on the ladder and so on? Life finds a way.

Beautiful drive up....Awesome view from the Johnston Ridge Observatory. I highly recommend visiting in late July - late Aug. (best weather)... ...Hint ----> there are at least 6 "gift shops" on the drive up. (can you pick me up a-couple-a t-shirts ......thanks : )

Fascinating...thankyou.

Really love the work OPB does!

Never underestimate Mother Nature's ability to repair/heal herself!

the selection pressure is for size and young repodroduction, elsewhere there's predation, fishing, competition, here the only factor that influences the next gen is size and youth.

My mother was attending college in SoCal at the time, she said the effects could be witnessed down there!

The recovery of the amphibians is encouraging.

I think insects are just so abundant in the lake that the trout are able to gorge themselves to the point of it being unhealthy, which makes them huge, fast... but also shortens their lifespan. Much like what happens to people who do the same.

Great stuff!!

Volcanic ash is like miracle grow for plants.

It doesn't surprise me about the amphibians. They've been around for what, 400 million years?

I sure would love to be a part of your research. I remember when it happened and I live in Wisconsin. Contact me if you’d like to have somebody there to cook for you and I would love to be able to educate myself and my children eventually of truth and not just politics or media of what they say happen. What a wonderful experience in at one time in a lifetime opportunity. God bless and stay safe and healthy with yourself and your family.

The last transmission heard from Johnston occurred as the eruption happened, according to the Scientific American. Johnston said: "Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!" before his radio signal went dark. His remains were never recovered.

I've personally witnessed the Sierra newt a couple of miles from any water source on the steep sides of mountains.

All rainbows have the steelhead potential, I've read that some bows in the Deschutes river grow to 13 inches before migrating. This shows a great reason for that adaptation, they can grow large rapidly to exploit a circumstance that may be local or long range, and that may only last a few, maybe tens, hopefully hundreds or tens of thousands, or what ever years. These are Oncorhynchus, Pacific salmonids. Geologically many of their basins were subject to cataclysms such as the Missoula floods, but also just due to climatic instability as the ice ages receded. Their gig is surviving instability as long as cold fresh water is available somewhere nearby. Trout are left behind in even small streams; just in case the species can exploit the environment later. Occasionally the genetics trigger a migrant; just to see the possibilities. Species ever probing their environment in order to survive. Lingo on the Deschutes is of unusually large fish being "two salt fish" meaning they survived their first trip upstream, returned to the ocean, fed another season and returned to the Deschutes in the fall (Sept to Oct). That would be about a 5 year maximum age. Have never heard of a "three salt fish", maybe the limit to aged is programed into the DNA like it is in dogs, cats, cows, etc. Really no surprise here.

Odd I heard years ago from a couple sources that native cutthroat trout just popped up in Spirit Lake a few years after the eruption. If I were the scientists I would not automatically assume those rainbows were planted by someone, fish seem to just find their way to open habitat by some means.

Perhaps the high turnover rate of the fish is related to the logs. The logs might deprive some areas more on average, creating deadspots. These deadspots might move over time, leading to there constantly being a death zone that kills off the fish moving throughout the lake. Or, the lack of ice interferes with their mating patterns.

This is a 2007 report (made 27 years after the big eruption). Right after the blast, the lake was covered about 40% with the log mat. Here, in 2007, the ecology worker said the lake is about 20% covered. I saw an estimate from 2018 that said it's still about 20% covered.

Mother nature is a tough old girl, mystery solved!

In 1966 I walked a trail on the west shore of Spirit lake about fifty yards up from the lake, there were thousands of water dogs on the land, they had many fallen trees to hide under.

Fantastic documentary

But they said adaptation takes millions of years...

Those logs have been floating around the lake for 30 years? They have not removed them because of what reason? Wouldn't removing them help the lake recover? I know ceder can have negative effects on the fish as it has natural antiseptic qualities. What a gorgeous example of the destructively creative power of the universe.

AWESOME !!

Great story . Thanks

rain may have placed the fish there like in the science books of the 80's told us in school or did they change it again?

There is an underground tunnel and river stream which enters Spirit Lake from the bottom and at one time engineers had to drain lake water and clear up some of the blockages in that stream to prevent flooding down stream. This explains how other aquatic life gets into the lake land out again!

Very Interesting video.

It's gonna be a fine swell day!

oh good work charley.

Is no one going to mention there's now a mini Grand Canyon there that was created in almost no time at all? Those layers don't represent millions of years. They represent settled materials. How ridiculous that the earth's surface ages in layers.

damn what i would do to fish that lake... those trout where huge!

Eagles? I mean spreading the fish, not the early demises.

I still remember dust on our windowsills in Winnipeg Manitoba from the blast

What a glorious man

Nature: forest gets washed into lake by gigantic volcanic landslide. _trees grow on top of the floating logjam_

Nature is even tougher than you think.... Life.. finds a way.

Amazing

I was 5 years old when it blew. I still remember the red lake with logs floating in it, maybe that was spirit lake?

1:30 It sure did not take too long for human pollution to make a comeback on that trail.

Unfortunately for these Rainbow, predating on Newts species(?) directly may lead to some log term issues that may be tested or documented with stomach contents of potential specimens to investigate the probable phenomena that they may be ingesting this species or species of toxic potential through ingestion of individuals or accumulation of toxins to critical levels which finally begin to weaken or disable the individual Rainbow's health issues and subsequent collapse. While stomach acids and other digestive abilities may not take individual rainbows immediately, this could lead a sudden collapse of individuals who are predating on this amphibian food source(s) over longer periods of duration.

Great video

So if there were just a fraction of the number of trees floating you would still have more sources of food for fish or whatever predators live in the water. While simultaneously allowing more light to penetrate into the lake. Could large area of the lake that lacks sun be playing a role in why the fish are unable to survive a normal lifespan? Could the large areas of shade be a breeding ground to other microbes that are harming the fish? Or is it the logs in general harming them? There are so many questions I have and nearly all of them surround those logs and what role they’re playing that the scientists don’t know about yet.

I would take that logs and start a driftwood furniture shop

My father told me a story of his high school buddies grandparents who had lived very close to Mount St. Helens up until the day it went off, they didn't make it.

Mt. St. Helens might be a mystery, but they understand carbon footprints... scratches head.

For some odd reason this place scares the shit out of me and I’m 34..

Have they considered removing the logs from the lake? How long before those logs decay if they were just left there?

looked through the comments and was wondering if the fish came in by an underground Chanel like a lave tube, I remember seeing fish that lived in caves back in Colorado that never left the caves. just a thought.

Will this video tell about the Sasquatch population there?

Well from keeping fish tanks.. If you keep a aggressive cichlid alone in a tank and change the water often it will grow faster then a fuller tank with dirty water..

They just reappeared like out of thin air.

Did they ever discover if it was the environment or a mutation in the trout? Curious because I can see aquaculture trout farms very interested in the results.

See? When left alone, the earth renews itself. Many of us witnessed that at lockdown on COVID. Same with humans. If we cut ourselves, it heals. Amazing testament to our Grand Creator.

Nature will find a way... it always does!

All this proves to me is that the "experts" aren't as all-knowing as they want us to believe. One fish planted by somebody? That is complete nonsense. And how did all the others get there if that was actually true?

so interesting

Nice to know that Luke Wilson got into conservation in his years after acting

The food abundance, due to less competition, might be causing over-sized fish. Also, there might be something in the water that's causing slow premature death (or they might be dying early of obesity :) )

"Life finds a way!"

Ducks filter feed. They swallow fish and amphibian eggs and tiny fish fry, they hold them in their crop and then upchuck the sediment in water and filter feed it a second time. BAM! you got fish and amphibians in random isoted bodies of water.

You really need to jump on google maps and look at satellite view of Spirit Lake, to truly appreciate how many logs there are floating.

Hell yeah!

Why wouldnt the area of contamination be a subject of investigation?

This week snail mail delivered cartography hard copy of ecology Inside lava of Mount St. Helens. Something when explored is now known to be more than 100 feet deep and it has more than 10,000 feet of length. 9 inches is denoted often to size the width or high extent that a visitor must squirm past. Water flows amid a lower level and much more is not submerged. Yes, a maze is present. All but unknown to visitors upon Mount St. Helens.

I lived in Riverton Wyoming when she erupted. Everything was covered in ash.

Rainbow trout that originate from hatchery stocks are short lived , usually 3 to 5 years. An extremely old wild stock of rainbow trout might reach nine years. The fish in the video looks like a hatchery fish. When the population of fish in a lake is low, they get larger due to more forage per fish. These fish are not of extraordinary size for this situation. Odds are someone hiked in with a bucket of fry. Sorry to bust your mystery, but these are pretty well known thoughts. I'd love to have a genuine Spriit lake snag to place in a new habitat. The last time I saw the morning "spirit wave" on that lake was back in the 70s. It is still as it was at least in my mind.

St Helens is getting ready to go again. Mt Rainer is possible as well as long valley and Yellowstone the plates are shifting east northeast . something is gotta give when its moves enough.

Life WILL find a way. Always.

"We're pretty sure someone put fish into the lake." What is the evidence for this? What is the evidence agents the fish being naturally introduced? Is it possible they entered the lake from a stream?