St. Helens center may reopen for summer

VANCOUVER, Wash. – As Mount St. Helens rumbled to life last fall, the Forest Service rushed to evacuate thousands of visitors from the Johnston Ridge Observatory, the viewpoint closest to the crater.

Now, as the 25th anniversary of the volcano’s catastrophic eruption of May 18, 1980, draws near, the agency is preparing to reopen the center to accommodate the anticipated crush of tourists.

A final decision is expected this week, though Johnston Ridge probably would not open until the summer season begins in May, The Columbian newspaper reported.

Even so, a Forest Service official said he’s inclined to reopen the observatory as long as the volcano continues its relatively placid pattern of dome-building.

“The conditions look favorable,” said Cliff Ligons, manager of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.

Ligons said he and other Forest Service officials have regularly consulted with scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey offices here, and that scientists believe the volcano is in a “fairly stable” period of activity.

None of the steam and ash eruptions since the volcano reawakened last September has flung rocks outside the crater.

That said, a flurry of earthquakes with magnitudes of between 2.5 and 3.0 were recorded Friday evening – an increase from the previous pattern of one or two earthquakes that size each day.

Johnston Ridge, five miles north of the crater, is named for geologist David Johnston, who died there in the 1980 blast. That eruption blew 1,300 feet off the top of the peak, killed 57 people and paralyzed much of the inland Pacific Northwest with gritty volcanic ash.

The next closest visitor center is at Coldwater Ridge, about 8 1/2 miles away.

Cynthia Gardner, a geologist at the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, said ashfall is the main hazard now. She said scientists are continuing to monitor the volcano closely, although it’s up to the Forest Service to issue closure orders.

“We are in very close communication with them, and we’re making our prognosis on the basis of activity we’re seeing currently,” she said. “If something were to change, we certainly would be immediately informing the Forest Service.”

Ligons noted that the meager snowpack around the mountain, due to an abnormally dry winter, reduces the risk of a large mudflow.

“Mount St. Helens is a volcano, so she’s in control of our decision-making process, basically,” he said.

“If she changes, so will I.”