User blog comment:Helljumper4/Solsthiem then and now/@comment-160529-20121128180157/@comment-4057437-20121204044639

200 years after an area has been covered with volcanic ash is plenty of time for the vegetation and wildlife to recover, assuming the area isn't a desert. Towns would be rebuilt, too. It didn't take that long after Pompeii blew, for instance.

Morrowind wasn't a desert last time we were there...