TREE-MENDOUS FIND

PALMER — Ever misplace something and forget about it, only to find it years later?

Perhaps you came across some treasured family mementos while cleaning the attic, or found a long-lost ring while gardening? Maybe that pesky missing wallet finally turned up after you reported it stolen and canceled all your credit cards?

But imagine the surprise of staff and students at Mat-Su College when a long-forgotten 3-acre cold-weather pine arboretum was discovered a stone’s throw from the campus.

“I remember coming out here about 20 years ago or so with my family and coming across the trees,” Mat-Su College Director Talis Colberg said. “They were all in rows, which seemed unique at the time.”

Over the years, Colberg, an attorney, has enjoyed various careers, including serving as the Mat-Su Borough mayor. Shortly after arriving at the Mat-Su campus as the college’s new director this past fall, Colberg remembered that old trail through the pines.

“When I got this job, I was talking to (the groundskeeper) and said, ‘there was some kind of arboretum back there,’ and he said, ‘oh yeah, it’s still there.’ But the trees are all overgrown at this point.”

What Colberg remembered turned out to be a unique experiment that began when the college had more of an agriculture emphasis. Over more than 35 plots of land mapped out in the arboretum, various types of cold-weather pine trees not normally indigenous to Alaska were planted.

There are Norway pine, white and blue spruce, Siberian fir, Scotch pine, jack pine, lodgepole pine, Douglas fir and many other species. Since the trees were planted in 1986, many of them have thrived while others have withered, said David Johnson, a student and head of the Mat-Su Carbon Crew, a group that promotes environmental issues.

Johnson and the crew have been working to clear the overgrown underbrush that has encroached on the arboretum over the decades.

“I’m so excited,” Johnson said. “I wanted to grow trees and never got a chance to do it in 25 years. And guess what? This was planned 25 years ago. It’s sort of magical to me.”

In addition to helping maintain the trails that run through the arboretum and the college campus, the Carbon Crew keeps it clean and organizes efforts to clear out the underbrush.

“David’s put in a huge amount of effort here,” Colberg said. “That little part that’s been cleared over here? That’s all David’s doing.”

Walk of wonder

Venturing out to the arboretum is an easy five-minute walk from the Mat-Su College main campus. Johnson and Colberg become animated when pointing out some of the unique features of the pinetum.

When the group, including this reporter and Frontiersman Photo Editor Robert DeBerry, reaches the first plot of the pines, the impact is subtle. Colberg points out some Siberian larch. Because of the wild growth around the pines, it’s easy to miss that the trees, measuring about a foot in diameter, are growing in perfectly straight rows.

“This is a type of pine that will shed its needles,” Colberg said. “This particular area will turn gold for about two weeks in the fall and just make a golden carpet underneath these trees. It’s beautiful, really neat.”

A little farther and the trail splits, marked by a large Siberian larch sporting a red bow tie.

“That one there’s called ‘The Doorman,’” Johnson said.

In fact, hundreds of trees throughout the arboretum are marked with yellow ribbon, placed there by Johnson in an attempt to re-identify tress that are part of the original project.

“I lived here for 17 years and walked down this trail hundreds of times and never knew this was here until the director pointed it out,” Johnson said.

Aside from that family hike a couple decades ago, Colberg has a personal affinity for growing things, especially trees.

“Trees are kind of a hobby for me,” he said. “I grow my own. For about 30 years, I’ve been collecting trees and I have an (apple) orchard. This is a personal interest for me and I’m happy to have it here, and to know it’s still here.”

Why did the college loose track of its arboretum?

“Well, no one noticed,” Colberg said. “No one was attending to it, it was just simply there being overgrown year after year. I think a lot of it had to do with the transition of Snodgrass Hall shifting from an agricultural focus to science. There was no student body signing up to take ag courses, so as the program shifted away there was no one officially in charge of it.”

The trail as it runs through the arboretum is clearly marked as “Arboretum Loop” by new signage that’s been installed since the forest’s rediscovery.

And that trail is pristine, thanks in large part to Johnson and the Carbon Crew, Colberg said.

“You notice you don’t see any trash, not even a candy wrapper,” Johnson said. “We see this trail as a trail of the future. And together, the small differences can make a big difference.”