Mount St. Helens Institute

This popular lecture series about the great outdoors began in 2008 and continues every month. Fascinating topics, lively speakers, and excellent food and libations make for an enjoyable and horizon-widening evening.

Doors open at 5:00pm. Speaker presents from 6:30 - 8:00

Come enjoy our new location at Tommy O’s Pacific Rim Bistro in downtown Vancouver, WA at 801 Washington Street!

Views and Brews Lecture Series

February 21, 2012
The Place Called Chalacha - History Beneath the MSH Monument Headquarters and Chelhatchie Prairie

Rick McClure

The headquarters for Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument lies within Chelatchie Prairie, Clark County, Washington, a place known as Chalacha to local native people.  The Forest Service headquarters facilities were built atop a significant archaeological site, with evidence of native occupation going back more than 2,000 years.  This presentation will summarize early pre-contact use of the site, introduce the historic-period native people of Chalacha, and provide an overview of the cultural conflicts that took place here in the 19th century as non-native settlers established themselves on the prairie.  Changes in land use in the 20th century will also be discussed, and the program will conclude with an update on a collaborative project with the Cowlitz Indian Tribe to restore culturally significant plant species.

Rick McClure is the Forest Archaeologist and Heritage Program Manager for Gifford Pinchot National Forest, with an office at Mt. Adams Ranger Station, in Trout Lake, Washington.  He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology from The Evergreen State College, a Master’s Degree in Anthropology from Washington State University, and has worked professionally as an archaeologist since 1979.  Rick first climbed Mount St. Helens in 1975, and has directed archaeological excavations at several pre-contact sites around the mountain during the past 23 years. With his wife Cheryl, he is the co-author of a book on the early history of Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

March 20, 2012
The Unimaginable Happens at Mount St. Helens…

Todd Cullings

There is something intangible about the events that transform Mount St. Helens that deeply resonates with people. This talk will explore the unimaginable eruptive events that shocked and awed the world on May 18, 1980 and created the volcano’s renowned horseshoe-shaped crater. It will also investigate the scale of change that has taken place within the crater since 1980. The amazing processes that formed and shaped the crater of the volcano over the past 31 years can make us change the way we see the world. My goal is simple, to instill a sense of wonder by challenging your imagination and sense of scale by revealing stories behind some of the greatest earth on show.

Todd Cullings is the Assistant director of the Johnston Ridge Observatory at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. Over the past nine years he has managed complex interpretive and environmental education programs attended by over 750,000 visitors to the monument. He has been passionately engaged in interpreting Mount St. Helens geologic, biologic and cultural stories since 1986.

April 17, 2012
The Northwest’s Greatest Natural Disasters

William Sullivan

This lecture explores the floods, earthquakes, forest fires, eruptions, and tsunamis that have hit the Northwest during the past 13,000 years of human settlement.  Although these disasters occur at irregular intervals, Sullivan shows that they are in fact part of natural cycles.  It is not possible to predict these catastrophic events precisely, but we can prepare for their impact.  With the increasing influence of global warming, Sullivan notes that it is especially important to understand the underlying cycles and the impact that we are having on the planet.  Released in April, 2008, is a companion book with the same name.

Sullivan is the author of a dozen books about Oregon, including “Hiking Oregon’s History, the popular “100 Hikes” series, and “Oregon Trips & Trails.” His journal of a 1000-mile hike he took across Oregon in 1985, “Listening for Coyote,” was chosen by the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission as one of Oregon’s “100 Books,” the 100 most significant books in the state’s history. He has also written a memoir and two novels. All of 16 of his books will be available for purchase!

May 15, 2012
Three Monumental Decades: A 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Creation of the MSHNVM

Christine Colasurdo and Susan Saul

It has been 30 years since the US Congress passed an act to establish the national volcanic monument in 1982. Come hear conservationist Susan Saul recount how the monument was created. Christine Colasurdo, author of “Return to Spirit Lake,” will host the evening and pose the question, “What does the monument mean to you?” Come share your own monumental story and help honor the national treasure we have in our own backyards.

Susan Saul has been a leader in wildland protection efforts in southwest Washington since the mid-1970s. As co-chair of the Mount St. Helens Protective Association, Susan played a key role in the legislative campaign to establish the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in 1982.

Christine Colasurdo is the author of two books on the outdoors, including “Return to Spirit Lake.” She first camped at Spirit Lake in 1970 as a child with her family and was profoundly affected by the 1980 eruption. Her family owned a cabin that was destroyed by the debris avalanche and lateral blast. A native of Portland, Colasurdo earned her Master’s degree in English from UC Berkeley in 1992. Her work has appeared in a wide range of publications and on public radio, and she has created two museum exhibits about Mount St. Helens. She is at work on a second book about Mount St. Helens. http://www.christinecolasurdo.com/