This small unit is mainly comprised of Gifford Pinchot National Forest and includes the Saint Helens crater and northern slope. Dogs Head sits at 8,166-ft on the east side of the crater, and The Breach on the north side of the crater sits at 5,794-ft, with old flows down to Pumice Plain and Spirit Lake. Along with National Forest land, there are basically four other land classes: state, Mount Saint Helens Wildlife Areas, Weyerhaeuser, and Department of Highways. The western point mostly holds Mount Saint Helens Wildlife Areas, including parts of both the Mount Saint Helens and Hoffstadt Units. Although there is a good network of roads and trails throughout the main valleys, there are two major roadless regions. Coldwater Peak, The Dome, and Mount Margaret in the north, and Mount Saint Helens, Pumice Butte, Floating Island Lava Flow, Forsyth Glacier, down to Pumice Plain. There are multiple water features within the GMU, including Spirit Lake, Saint Helens Lake, Coldwater Lake, Castle Lake and the North Fork of the Toutle River, which includes the only salmon-spawning sites in the upper river basin. The GMU is managed mainly for elk, however, this diverse unit includes old growth forests, forested floodplains, riparian areas, old lava flows, mineral springs and wetlands providing an excellent habitat for a multitude of species.

There has been talk of wolves in the area.