By Joe Boyles, Boyles Tree Farm; Brian Cobble, Florida Forest Service; and Chris Demers, UF/IFAS School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences
All photos courtesy of Boyles Tree Farm
The Florida Tree Farm Program is excited to announce that Boyles Tree Farm is recognized as the 2025 Jon Gould Florida Outstanding Tree Farm of the Year. Boyles Tree Farm LLC (BTF) began in 1942 when Eugene Boyles, then a 22-year-old lieutenant in the Army and 1941 graduate of the University of Florida School of Agriculture, purchased a 365-acre farm near his parents in Suwannee County, FL. For half a century, Eugene was at the helm and added additional timber tracts through purchase and 1031 exchange amounting to 1,145 acres. After Eugene’s death in 1991, the management of Boyles Tree Farm conferred to his two sons; Joe and Fred, who have doubled the size of BTF to 2,235 acres. Joe Boyles is an Episcopal Priest, and Fred Boyles has a career in Historic Preservation. Joe and Fred work closely with the third generation of the Boyles family to facilitate succession and continue the family’s stewardship legacy. Currently, nine descendants of Eugene and Frances own the properties.
Boyles Tree Farm has been certified in American Tree Farm System (ATFS) for over 50 years and they proudly display a gold 50-Year Tree Farm Sign on one of the Suwannee County properties. The photo in the banner above shows Joe Boyles holding that sign with Suwannee County Forester, Jacob Earnest. Joe Boyles explains the benefits of involvement with the ATFS: “Our relationship with ATFS has been very beneficial for information. My late father who began this enterprise as a young man in 1942 enrolled his forestry business (then 700 acres) in 1972 with AFTS. Today we are three times that size. Through the years, we have continued to expand our operation and broaden our business plan. We have learned new techniques and kept abreast of changes in the industry through our industry partners like ATFS.”
Diverse forest and watershed resources
There are ten geographically separated timber tracts, ranging in size from 100 to a little over 500 acres in size in Suwannee, Hamilton, and Madison counties. Some of these tracts border or have tributaries to the Suwannee and Withlacoochee Rivers. Important watershed features on these properties include sinkholes, lakes, intermittent streams, and karst topography. These are protected as designated natural areas or with the use of Silvicultural Best Management Practices.
Pine stands are planted with longleaf, slash, and/or loblolly pines; and range in age from 1 to 18 years. Since 2018, all the pine plantations have been hand-planted with containerized, genetically improved seedlings, as available. BTF markets timber products, hunting leases, pine straw, real estate, and some stands are enrolled in the carbon market. Joe explains, “This winter, we are planting 71 acres of containerized loblolly on Tract IIIB. We are entering a carbon credit program with Funga to treat the seedlings at the nursery (PRT/IFCO) to introduce fungus to replenish the soil. We hope to see 30 percent additional growth in the first 5 years. While we have investigated several carbon credit programs, this is the first where we have enrolled.”
Resilience through three major hurricanes
On August 30, 2023, Hurricane Idalia hit Florida as a Category 3 storm with 125 mph+ winds. It ripped through Florida’s Big Bend region where Boyles Tree Farm is located, destroying hundreds of thousands of acres of timberland. Just 11 months later, on August 5th, 2024, Hurricane Debby made landfall in the same region of Florida as a Category 1 storm, with winds and flooding affecting eastern Madison, Western Suwannee, and Hamilton County. Then, 6 weeks later, on September 24, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm – the only known hurricane of this magnitude to be recorded in the Big Bend area of Florida since records began in 1851. Boyles Tree Farm was impacted by all 3 storms, but due to the management style of the Boyles family, they recovered and continued with management as normal.
Since Hurricanes Idalia, Debbie, and Helene have occurred, Boyles Tree Farm has actively managed salvage timber sales and commercial thinning, site preparation, and reforestation as a common occurrence. Regarding assistance with recovery from these storms, Joe explains, “We enrolled with two USDA programs through NRCS and FSA, the latter having the most promise. This will enable us to clean up the damage from recent hurricanes. We continue to visually monitor our timber stands and have seen no evidence of bark beetle activity.”
“Sustainable Forestry in North Florida since 1942”
The family takes the business and sustainability of their Tree Farm enterprise seriously. BTF has been registered as an LLC in the state of Florida since 1986. Joe explains the importance of their management plan: “One thing that sets BTF apart is that we have a very extensive and current forestry management plan which we wrote using the strategic planning or process developed by the Sterling Council. We update this annually to keep current with changes made each year. We have extensive data in our plan to help us with decisions.”
An annual report is produced each year, and the family meets several times each year to discuss management progress and upcoming activities. Joe explains, “We believe in the long-term benefits of forestry, both economic and environmental. We are dedicated to the land and real property and to the concept of stewardship. Our challenge is to make the real estate generate good economic return while at the same time benefiting water, soil, air and wildlife. We must be profitable in order to stay in business.”
BTF belongs to three professional and trade organizations: Florida Forestry Association; Forest Landowners Association, and the American Tree Farm System, which is their preferred certification program. Boyles Tree Farm family members have made several presentations to the Madison Rotary Club to describe and illustrate family forestry in North Florida. Their motto is “Sustainable Forestry in North Florida since 1942.”
Join Us for a Tour of Boyles Tree Farm on November 12, 2025
On November 12 private landowners and partners will gather at Camp Weed for a presentation and tour of a few nearby Boyles Tree Farm tracts. Join us if you can. Find details and registration at Boyles Tree Farm Tour, November 12, 2025.
Jon Gould
Florida’s Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year Award honors the memory of Mr. Jon Gould, a respected member of Florida’s Tree Farm Program State Committee and a proud Tree Farmer and advocate for forestry for more than 30 years throughout the southeast. Mr. Gould was selected as the Florida Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year in 2006 and as the Southern Regional Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year in 2018. Mr. Gould passed in 2019. His legacy lives as an ultimate model of the Tree Farm Program for which the Florida award is now renamed beginning in 2020. Learn more about Jon, his wife Carol and the Gould Tree Farm at: https://www.treefarmsystem.org/south-nominee-goulds
Learn more about the Florida Tree Farm program at https://www.treefarmsystem.org/florida.
Learn more about the Funga carbon program at https://www.funga.earth/.
Learn more about the Sterling Council at https://thesterlingcouncil.org/.
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