![](https://sites.evergreen.edu/l3notes/wp-content/uploads/sites/528/2020/04/Bushnell-300x225.jpeg)
Surely, it’s not only plants on the Pumice Plain! Ecosystems have gradually flourished as more species have filled ecological niches. Ungulates and other mammals have colonized the Pumice Plain.
Our team has documented many animals on accident in our photo traps intended to measure water flow, ephemerality, and seasonality of streams!
![](https://sites.evergreen.edu/l3notes/wp-content/uploads/sites/528/2020/04/day6-300x225.jpg)
While hiking across the Pumice Plain our team has encountered huge herds of elk. They were some of the first large animals to return to MSH after the eruption and they utilize this landscape for grazing the grasses, sedges, and willows of the Pumice Plain!
Sometimes our camera trap stream gauges capture other things! A big fall storm caused massive sediment movement in our streams and also carried other debris downstream. This partial elk carcass got caught up on our stream gauge on Willow Creek.
![](https://sites.evergreen.edu/l3notes/wp-content/uploads/sites/528/2020/04/day6a-300x225.jpg)
![](https://sites.evergreen.edu/l3notes/wp-content/uploads/sites/528/2020/04/day6b-300x225.jpg)