One sledful at a time, Charlie Lean ferried Christmas trees from the shore onto the frozen Bering Sea with his snowmachine. With each bump on the chunky sea ice, the smell of evergreen trees faintly appeared, before a gust of coastal wind wiped it away.
Almost every year since the mid-90’s, locals like Charlie Lean have propped up their discarded Christmas trees into augered-out holes in the sea ice, creating what is affectionately known as the Nome National Forest. It’s ironic, considering the land around Nome is known for its spongy tundra interrupted only by the occasional willow grove.
Charlie Lean’s daughter, Reba Lean, took over auger duties this year. She said setting up the Nome National Forest is something her father looks forward to every year.
“He's really taken it under his wing, and I think he just likes the quirkiness of it, and knows that it's fun for visitors and around Iditarod time,” Reba Lean said.
With the heavy auger in tow, Reba Lean trudged across the sea ice, occasionally piercing through the crunchy top layer of snow to find herself surrounded up to her knees. The name of the game is to create an even spread of holes so the forest looks prominent from town a hundred yards away.
After plopping the trees in, members and helpers with the Nome Rotary Club stopped by and heaped snow into each hole, then doused them in water to freeze and lock the trees in place. With the evergreens in place, the operation entered phase two.
An assortment of wooden signs resembling animals like seals, moose and a dog team arrived on the back of a sled.
“We've got all the trees on site. And then there should be two truckloads worth of animals arriving momentarily,” Charlie Lean yelled over the sound of an idling snowmachine. “And then we'll start figuring out all the figures, and that's when the whole thing really pops.”
The new signs were crafted by the Nome Rotary Club in the weeks leading up to installation day. They’re replacements for signs used in the Nome National Forest in year's past, but floated out to sea last year following surprise February ice breakup.
“I was just in disbelief, heartbreaking, and I'm sad because all those animals, they're nostalgic,” Reba Lean said.
Several hours after getting started, the crew finally took a chance to step back and take in their hard work. The months-old Christmas trees were missing a lot of needles, and being out on the ice probably won’t help. But Charlie Lean said nobody's judging.
“We don't reject anybody, long as it's a real tree. I mean, forests have woodpecker trees too. We're not judging. We appreciate all these trees,” Charlie Lean said.
The Nome National Forest is open to visitors now until late winter, when Charlie Lean plans to be back out on the ice plucking up the signs for next year.
