How much wood was salvaged in the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens by the logging companies? Why?

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Answer 1

Tons of wood was salvaged.  Among the reasons were recovering some value from the land held for years paying taxes and loss of interest on the investment while the trees were growing.   Removing the trees made access to the land possible/easier in the future when new trees were planted and grown.   Some of the lumber was recovered from the rivers and near river valleys where leaving it in place would contribute to flooding as in shifted in the water flow.  Leaving the logs in place would prevent stabilizing the ash with construction techniques or grass and other plantings.  Mud flows in heavy rain - lahars - have the consistancy of liquid concrete and at a hundred fifty pounds per cubic foot can do great damage http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/Lahar...

"850 million board feet of timber was saved — enough to build 85,000 three bedroom homes."

http://www.formationsinc.com/about/pr/mt...