Recent comments

From the USGS: "Dramatic eruptive activity in the Cascades has been rare so far in the 20th century. Until the recent eruptions at Mount St. Helens, the only Cascade volcano that had a major eruption during this century was Lassen Peak in California. A series of intermittent eruptions of steam and volcanic ash beginning in May 1914 and lasting until 1921 climaxed, during the 4 days from May 19 to 22, 1915, in a series of violent events comprising small lava flows, massive lava-triggered mudflows, and explosive eruptions of ash. The most destructive of these eruptions included a nearly horizontal (lateral) blast that reached only about one-fifth as far as the recent Mount St. Helens lateral blast."

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Lassen/EruptiveHistory/eruptive_activity_1914.html

Hey, it's not the size of the eruption, it's the... well, I don't know. But it is the most significant eruption of the 20th century in the Cascades and it ought to be left alone, IMO.

As far as the explosivity of Mt. St. Helens, it is smaller than that of other volcanoes that are presently inside of the United States. But, I think the original comment is correct, that since the United States has existed as a country, Mt St Helens has been the biggest. I know that the Mt Mazama eruption, was bigger (the caldera of which is now called Crater Lake), and eruptions inside of what is now Yellowstone are about the biggest ever documented on the planet. Check out this interesting page on Wikipedia, the Volcanic Explosivity Index.

Sounds like the government BS bureaucracy machine.

Keep up the good work. I've been critical of your "slant", as I'm far left on the issue of preservation, but you both are doing good work.

Mt. St. Helens absolutely needs to be a National Park.

First, there's just the overall beauty and remoteness of the site.

Second, there's the preservation of an ecology in repair. There is a fascinating naturalist tale to be told at St. Helens: how the land recovers from trauma.

Third, it's actually a historically significant locale, and as such, deserves NPS status. This was the most momentous volcanic eruption on the continental United States in the history of the country.

If it stays with the forest service, it'll become a playground for loggers and ATVs, and thereby be destroyed.

I personally don't think the Forest Service should be building lavish Visitor Centers. If it's worthy of a Visitor Center, it's worthy of National Park status. Either close the thing permanently and let people enjoy it without all the fuss of National Park status, or make it a NM and fund the thing. I was there a few years ago with my son. We had fun without the VC experience.

Volcanoes are skittish things. We're not really preserving anything -- we're temporarily permitted to place a few buildings on its slopes until the next time it goes kablooey. Then Mother Nature reinvents the park all over again and we're back to building more roads and Visitor Centers and parking lots. But then again, it may be a thousand years before the next big one, so who knows...?

-- Jon

Thanks everyone for the comments. Without getting into the details, we had run into a situation where we were refused some park information because we were "just bloggers". As you all have found with the new website, and backed up with Kurt's statement in this article, we are really trying to build something beyond "just" a blog. The community participation in the new site has been extraordinary so far, and Kurt and I both feel an obligation to bring quality stories to the site and feed the dialog about park issues.

Andrea, thanks for the video comment! I've got more in the works, including an interview tomorrow, and another request sent in email.

Kurt, you and Jeremy have created a important and informative appendage to understanding the critical issues facing our National Parks today (through your website). I have learned alot about the intricate aspects in how our National Parks are administratively run, ruined, raved and ranted over your website. Some of this stuff you would never find even in the back pages of your local newspaper. I know that I'm free to put my two cents in worth of blog but within respectable bounds, and I thank you for that. Remember, "the pen is mightier then the sword"! Keep up the good work!!

These kinds of events raise questions of compatibility and appropriateness. National parks are our national treasures, deserving respect and treatment as such.

Interesting reading through this, I live in Jackson and yes I saw the Blue Angels do a flyby around 2:50pm Mountain time. We have a few flybys a year by the military mainly because the VP has a house here. The main concern of these flyby's is the safety of the people in the mountains, because the "sound of freedom" can cause rock debris and slides. Luckily and thankfully because of forewarning of the Blue Angels nobody was hurt. That I have heard.

As to Tom
"It is quite obvious that you were never issued a service number.
And you never served.........You have no voice!!"

I have a 4-dig MOS number and your comment is grossly out of place.

The SOG units where a great help in forming the special forces of today, thank you.

"If he get impeached"...lol...you libs are so funni....
O.K., so then we have Dick Cheney as president! Yee-haw!...drop some bombs, babyyyyy!!!

I've had the displeasure of seeing military jets fly through the gorge of Grand Canyon, fly under the Chesapeake Bay bridge, and through Misty Fjords National Monument in Alaska. It's disgraceful -- the same attitudes that brought us the military academy mistreatment of women over the years... there's no honour in such behaviour. It just demonstrates that these people can't be fully trusted. When they sign on the dotted line and swear to uphold and protect the constitution and laws of this great land, there's no wiggle room -- no "yuk yuk lookie what I did" -- no "I was just following orders" excuses.

Yes I served, so wipe that nasty thought off your frontal lobe. Drop and gimme 20 while you're at it.

-- Jon