As part of the Summer Reading Program, the North Olympic Library System (NOLS) presents Humanities Washington speaker Eric Wagner for his talk, After the Blast: Mount St. Helens 40 Years Later. The free presentation will be on Facebook Live and Zoom on Wednesday, Aug. 3 at 6:30 p.m. To receive the Zoom login, registration is required at nols.org/mt-st-helens-talk, or by contacting your NOLS branch.

On May 18, 1980, the world watched in awe as Mount St. Helens erupted, killing 57 people and causing hundreds of square miles of destruction. Scientists who visited soon after were stunned to find plants sprouting up through the ash and animals skittering around downed trees. In his talk, Eric Wagner takes you on a journey through the blast zone. He explores not just the surprising ways plants and animals survived the eruption, but also the complex roles that people have played, all while showing how fascinating Mount St. Helens still is 40 years after the blast.

Eric Wagner is a writer and biologist. He holds a PhD in biology from the University of Washington, where he studied penguins. He is the author of three books, including After the Blast: The Ecological Recovery of Mount St. Helens.

Humanities Washington is a nonprofit organization dedicated to opening minds and bridging divides by creating spaces to explore different perspectives. For more about Humanities Washington, visit www.humanities.org.