An Inspirational Visit with Michael Lienau

After a life-altering experience, Michael Lienau is a firm believer in emergency preparedness. I recently attended a presentation of Michael Lienau’s in which he spoke of personal and business emergency preparedness.

Lienau was a close observer of Mount St. Helens during its second eruption on May 25, 1980. Too close. At age twenty and a life-long film buff, he’d planned to go to film school in Northern California. His plans were waylaid when Mount St. Helens erupted May 18, 1980. He made his way to the Mount St. Helens area to film the rivers that swelled with volcanic sediment. He joined a Seattle production company and flew through black clouds of ash, filming the blast from above.

When the second, smaller blast of May 25 occurred, Lienau and the production company were at the base of the mountain. The sky rained ash for seven hours, trapping the party in the backcountry for four days. They were unprepared for such an emergency and fought fatigue, hunger and turmoil.

It was a life-changing event, both professionally and spiritually. There was a strong possibility they might lose their lives. “It was one of those things that shaped my life,” he says. He began freelancing film work, inspired by his experience and the people whose lives were affected by the blast.

Lienau filmed “The Fire Below Us: Remembering Mount St. Helens,” which was first aired in 1994 on National Geographic television. He later made “Fire Mountains of the West” and “Cascadia: The Hidden Fire,” two films examining the present geologic and volcanic dangers of the Pacific Northwest.

Today, still an active cinematographer, Lienau encourages people to be prepared for disaster. “Preparedness is easy, inexpensive and you’ll never regret it.” Lienau’s particular concern is the strong possibility of a disastrous earthquake in the Northwest. The Cascadia Subduction Zone is one of the largest geologic faults in the nation, capable of generating a truly catastrophic 9+ earthquake.

By following FEMA’s recommendation--Make a plan, Make a kit, and Be informed--we can ensure preparedness. FEMA suggests a minimum 3-day Disaster Supply Kit that includes:
– One gallon of water per person per day, plus regular chlorine bleach for purifying more water
– Non-perishable food for each person per day
– Medications / first aid supplies
– Flashlight / extra batteries / light sticks
– Toiletries (including toilet paper, feminine supplies, soap, personal hygiene supplies)
– Important documents (wills, insurance papers, etc)
– Money, including small bills and change
– Multi-Purpose tools, garbage & zip lock bags
– Radio (battery or wind-up) / extra batteries
– Special needs for elderly, baby, pets
– Extra clothes / shoes / blankets

Lienau emphasizes the need to have food and supplies on hand. “If we give some time to preparedness in our families, neighborhoods and communities, it alleviates fear and strengthens our response systems.”

Mount St. Helens: Rising from the Dead

Much to everyone’s surprise, including scientists who have studied the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens extensively, a resurgence of life has returned to Mount St. Helens. The landscape has shifted dramatically from a gray, still and nearly barren panorama to an environment that is green, active and life-filled. The mountain’s return to vibrant life is a remarkable reminder of the power and beauty of nature.

When Mount St. Helens erupted thirty years ago, the landscape looked as though it would never support life again. The lateral blast left 234 square miles of standing-dead or blown-down forests, killing an estimated 10,000,000 trees. As the north face of the mountain collapsed, creating the largest landslide in U.S. history, wind and heat wiped out virtually all animal and plant life. An estimated 7,000 deer, elk and bear, and untold thousands of birds and small animals perished. The Toutle River grew so hot witnesses reported seeing fish jump out of the water to escape the heat.

Sparkling Spirt Lake, directly in the path of the blast, was pushed more than 800 feet up the side of a neighboring mountain by debris and came back down to rest several hundred feet higher than it was before, leaving all marine life eradicated.

Even outside the blast zone, a hot slurry of mud from the Toutle River churned over the land–taking with it huge trees, dozens of homes, and every living thing in its path.

How could this miracle of rebirth happen? The weight of wet snow packs and summer heat have effectively deteriorated the blown-down trees, making fertile ground for wind-blown seeds. The distinctive irregular surface of the landslide entraps runoff from rain and snow melt, forming new ponds and wetlands, spawning new life. The little pocket gophers survived the blast from their underground tunnels and continued feeding on roots, leaving droppings containing seeds along the way. Spiders blew in and birds followed to feast on the spiders. They, too, left rich droppings for future growth. Today, the downed forest in places is almost hidden by an assortment trees, shrubs, grasses, wildflowers and weeds, fodder for returning elk, deer and other animal life.

Even Spirit Lake has gone through a remarkable metamorphosis, returning to near pre-eruption conditions. The lake’s once cold, clear waters were transformed into a primordial soup, a rich broth of sediment and organic matter covered by a floating log mat. Bacteria populations exploded in these ideal conditions, cleansing the lake. Today, Spirit Lake hosts vibrant ecosystems and even trout, although scientists believe the fish were illegally introduced by visitors after the eruption.

Much of the recovery has been instigated by nature. However, employees of Weyerhaeuser, one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world, planted 18,400,000 trees by hand in an effort to rebuild some of the forest after the blast. It took workers four years to complete the project.

The effects of the 1980 eruption are still very evident–the enormous crater is stark evidence of the magnitude of the event. From Johnston Ridge, named after geologist Dave Johnston who lost his life in the blast, visitors can see a close-up of the lava dome, crater, pumice plain, and the landslide deposit.

Mount St. Helens is witness to and a lesson in nature’s remarkable evolution. From a colorless, barren landscape to an array of color and life, the mountain again beckons visitors to its wild beauty. When was the last time you visited Mount St. Helens?
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/

Do We Live on the Same Planet?

For most authors, finding a publisher is the point of writing a book. Sure, we find the actual writing the most pleasurable and satisfying part of our profession. But most of us anticipate the reward of seeing the book published, holding it in our own hands, seeing it in the hands of others, and, hopefully, having it sell.

Once I finished my latest novel, Tenderfoot, a romantic suspense with a sub-plot of the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption, I thought I’d try casting it in the daunting ocean of New York publishers. I didn’t go through an agent, thinking I’d just try it on my own.

To my surprise, I received a telephone call from a New York publisher. Oh, my! She felt the story was well written, but found it confusing. “If this mountain was going to erupt, why would anyone be on it?”

“But, it’s true, fifty-seven people lost their lives as the result of that eruption.”

“Why would anyone be on a mountain that’s going to explode?”

That’s a tough question to answer. Many of those who died were scientists, some were reporters, some loggers, people who had business on the mountain. But many more were people who just wanted to be where the action was, wanted to see for themselves what all the commotion was about, people who didn’t want to miss out.

“Well,” the New Yorker replied, “I don’t understand that mentality and I personally don’t think the story is believable.”

My mind whirled. There seemed to be nothing I could say that would convince this lady that my story, although fiction, was based on the actual incidents surrounding the blast.

“Then,” she continued, “you mention ‘sheriff.’ This isn’t a western. If this story takes place in 1980, you wouldn’t call law enforcement ‘sheriff,’ it would be ‘police'."

I tried to keep out the incredulity from my voice. “Where we live in Washington State, our local law enforcement is conducted by the Sheriff’s Department.”

She sighed. “I guess I just don’t understand you people.”

Mount St. Helens: A Fitting Backdrop for Tenderfoot

News of the devastating Mount St. Helens eruption of May 18, 1980 quickly spread around the world. News wasn't the only thing that spread--500 million tons of ash rose nearly 16 miles (63,000 feet) into the atmosphere and within days encircled the earth. A lateral blast of trapped gasses traveled 650 miles per hour across nearby hills, stripping the land and killing nearly every living thing in its path.

Fifty-seven people lost their lives as the result of the eruption. Two hundred thirty-four square miles of forest lands were destroyed. Trees were either blasted away, felled like pieces of straw, or scorched while standing. Wildlife perished by the thousands. Mixtures of melted snow, rock and mud formed wet cement-like slurries which bulldozed through forests, destroying roads, bridges, homes, and livestock. The face of the mountain and surrounding area were changed forever. Lives were changed forever, too.

This true story of Mount St. Helens is the backdrop of my latest novel, Tenderfoot, a story of new beginnings through devastating endings. A story of love–love of family, of land, of life.

Corrie Stevens is looking for a new life. She’s willing to sacrifice comfortable city living for the rugged ranch life that’s always fascinated her. But she doesn’t count on it being rugged on her already wounded heart.

J McClure is tough–you have to be in the ranching business. He’s had years to wall up his feelings of loneliness and despair. When his wife died, leaving him with a little girl to raise and a ranch to run, he had little choice but to put feelings aside and do whatever he could to hold things together.

When Corrie and J run into each other–literally–sparks fly and lives change. It isn’t just the mountain that explodes.

Just released: Tenderfoot
Treble Heart Books http://TrebleHeartBooks.com/METrimble.html
Author’s website: www.MaryTrimbleBooks.com