May 13, 2016

"Learning from Catastrophe: Biological Recovery at Mt. St. Helens" by Dr. Keith Swenson. The eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 destroyed 234 square miles of forest land. Yet the land has recovered faster than most scientists expected. This is a small-scale version of how the earth recovered after the Genesis Flood.Noah’s Flood left the entire earth biologically devastated. Creationists believe that over the tens, hundreds and thousands of years following the Flood, living organisms recovered, eventually producing the ecosystems seen on the modern earth. But how could such a remarkable recovery happen in such a short time?

Since there is no detailed information on biological changes following the Flood, creationists must look elsewhere for information. One source is the study of recovery from the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Dr. Swenson showed us this renewal of life in the blast zone, noting the resilience of the creation and suggesting some comparisons between what happened at Mt. St. Helens and what must have occurred globally following the great Flood described in the Bible.

Dr. Swenson is a retired MD who now teaches courses in biology and geology at Multnomah Univ. in Portland, OR. He also served for 20 years as President of Portland’s Design Science Association. He enjoys leading field trips to Mt. St. Helens, the Columbia Gorge, Northwest forests and the Grand Canyon. Keith has a B.S. in Zoology from the Univ. of Idaho and an MD from Washington Univ. School of Medicine in St. Louis.