Forestry Convention Highlights Outstanding Tree Farm & Small Woodlands
Story and photos by Craig Reed
The efforts of the Douglas County and Oregon small woodlands communities are being rewarded this month.
The Oregon Family Forestry Convention and Oregon Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year Tour events are June 25 through June 27 at Big K Guest Ranch near Elkton. Big K’s Kesterson Family Tree Farm was named Oregon’s outstanding farm in 2025 and is now a finalist for the 2026 West regional small woodlands honor and the 2026 national award.
Tami Jo Braz, recent past president of Douglas County Small Woodlands Association, and Dan Newton, president of Oregon Small Woodlands Association, say the Kesterson farm is worthy of the regional and national awards.
“Douglas County has never had a national tree farm,” Tami Jo says. “The Kesterson family embraces every value of the small woodlands association: stewardship, advocacy, fellowship, and education. The Kestersons have done it all. It’s time—it’s past time—for the national honor to come to the timber capital of the world.”
Dan, a forester in Douglas County’s timber industry for 40 years, says he has been impressed with the Kesterson forest and ranch management since he first visited the property along the Umpqua River years ago.
“From the beginning, it didn’t take me long to be thinking national recognition because of the excellent stewardship I saw across their property,” he says.
Tami Jo and Dan have plenty of small woodland experiences, including touring many properties, so they have the background to judge the best of tree farms.
Tami Jo and her husband, Barry, are small woodland owners in the Oakland area. They bought their property in 1987 and were named Douglas County Small Woodlands Tree Farm of the Year in 2004. Tami Jo has been a chapter board member since 2016. Earlier this year, she completed a 2-year term as the chapter’s president.
Dan and his wife, Kathy, have been members of the Douglas County Small Woodlands chapter for 40 years. They own several parcels of timber, and their Yoncalla-area property was named the county’s Tree Farm of the Year in 1993. Dan is a past president of the county’s chapter.
Kesterson Family Tree Farm was named the county chapter’s Tree Farm of the Year in 2023. With Dan helping with paperwork, the Kesterson farm was certified by the American Tree Farm System and was then named the Oregon Tree Farm of the Year in 2025, earning the honor over 5 other finalists.
The Kesterson farm is now in the running for the regional and national awards.
“We are honored to host this convention and are very proud to be a part of the Oregon Small Woodlands Association and recognized through the American Tree Farm System as the Tree Farm of the Year in 2025 for Oregon,” says Gary Williamson, ranch manager and grandson of Big K Guest Ranch founder Alvin Kesterson. “Our family has been very dedicated to productive and sustainable forest management practices.”
Gary says the tree farm has received a tremendous amount of support from various agencies: Oregon Department of Forestry, Douglas County, Oregon Small Woodlands Associations, Douglas Forest Protective Association, and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“We’re honored to represent Douglas County, the state of Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, and possibly even the United States,” he says.
Charles Kesterson bought the ranch’s original 300 acres 118 years ago. Adjoining acreage has been bought over the years, bringing the ranch’s size to 2,200 acres. In addition to 1,500 acres of trees, primarily Douglas fir, the property includes a 1,200-square-foot log lodge, 20 cabins, pasture for cattle, and a hunting and fishing guide service.
The lodge opened in 1993, bringing reality to Alvin’s vision of a diversified business. Since then, the Kesterson family and Big K Guest Ranch have hosted weddings, corporate retreats, and weekend getaways and offered guided hunting and fishing trips for people from all over the world. The ranch lies along 11 miles of the Umpqua River.
In the nomination document for the regional and national awards, Gary wrote, “For six generations, the Kesterson family has cared for this property, protecting its forests, nurturing its pastures, protecting its waterways, and honoring the values that first brought Charles Franklin Kesterson to the banks of the Umpqua River more than a century ago. By their ability to adapt and overcome adversity brought about by changing industries, economic shifts, and evolving land use practices, the family has remained committed to thoughtful stewardship and sustainable forest management.”
Alvin’s grandsons, the family’s fifth generation, brothers Gary and Seth Williamson, and cousin Quintin Magee, have worked together to maintain a balance of growing trees, raising cattle, managing wildlife, and operating a resort designed for outdoor recreation.
“We’re the heart of timber country here,” Tami Jo says. “This is where it all began. Now this honor should be here for the Kesterson family and its tree farm.”