Pocatello, ID -- There may be a bright side to all the ash spewing from Mount St. Helens: It could help Bigfoot researchers prove that the hairy creature exists.

According to University of Idaho anatomy and anthropology professor Jeff Meldrum -- who also investigates Bigfoot -- the volcanic ash could coat the ground in Bigfoot's Pacific Northwest habitat well enough to yield some superior footprints.

He says most of the ground in the area isn't soft enough to take a footprint, but a blanket of ash could provide a good medium.

Meldrum owns more than 150 casts of mysterious ground tracks that fall somewhere between human feet and primate feet and says his study of them has convinced him that Sasquatch are real.

However, he admits that it will take more than just a few good footprints to prove to the public that, quote, "there's a giant primate out there in the woods" -- which is why he's also developing hair traps to collect DNA from the creature.

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