How long did it take for the plant and animal life to come back after the 1980 eruption?

Hi Emily,

I think the recovery rates were very different for different parts of the volcano. The things that determined how fast the animal and plant life came back were the severity of damage from the eruption and the closeness to areas of healthy environment that could provide new seeds and animals to re-populate the damaged areas. Some of the areas probably had plants growing up through the ash only a few months after the big eruption. On the other hand, there are places where today the plant life has still not recovered.

There are some interesting photos about how different environments were affected. They are in VolcanoWorld at:

this site

Sincerely,

Scott Rowland

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