Emily Chan
Two years after the most catastrophic volcanic eruption in United States history, scientists released gophers on the ruined landscape of Mount St. Helens so the animals could help regenerate lost life.
More than four decades later, they were astonished to find that the beneficial effects of the burrowing rodents can still be seen today.
On May 18, 1980, Washington’s Mount St. Helens spewed 540 million tons of ash across 22,000 square miles, causing considerable damage to the area. A couple of years later, scientists dropped gophers onto part of the scorched mountain for 24 hours.
They believed the animals’ digging habits would turn up new soil and microorganisms, reviving the ecosystem—and the gophers did just that.
Now, researchers are retracing their efforts 44 years later and showcasing just how long-lasting ecosystem restoration techniques can be.
“They’re often considered pests, but we thought they would take old soil, move it to the surface, and that would be where recovery would occur,” said Michael Allen, a co-author of the study and a microbiologist at the University of California Riverside.
In 1983, the scientists’ chosen sites for their gopher experiment on Mount St. Helens were nothing more than “collapsing slabs of porous pumice,” with barely a dozen plants and some fragile seedlings attempting to regrow.
Six years after the gophers did their work, the two test plots saw a remarkable transformation, supporting 40,000 flourishing plants. In sharp contrast, the surrounding region, untouched by the gophers, remained largely barren and lifeless.
In just the span of 24 hours, the gophers made a huge difference. They dug up fungi and bacteria that were necessary for ecosystems to grow, as these microorganisms break down organic material and release nutrients back into the soil.
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