About Us:

At 8:32 Sunday morning, May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted. The eruption lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape were dramatically changed within moments.

In 1982, the President and Congress created the 110,000-acre National Volcanic Monument, within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, for research, recreation, and education.

Inside the Monument, the environment is left to respond naturally to the disturbance.