For six generations, the Kesterson family has built their life along Oregon’s Umpqua River. It started 1908, when Charles Franklin Kesterson purchased 300 acres near Elkton, and now has grown into a 2,200-acre family operation that balances forestry, ranching, and recreation. Today, the Kesterson Family Tree Farm spans about 1,500 acres of timberland, carrying forward a tradition of adapting to changing times while keeping the land at the center of the family business. 

Charles first came to the Elkton area to visit a friend. He spent weeks hunting, fishing and exploring the forests and river valleys before deciding that he had found the place where he wanted to raise his family. The farm initially supported fruit production, including more than 10,000 plum trees. As the timber industry expanded after World War II, Charles’ sons Virgil and Alvin began logging the family property and eventually formed Kesterson Bros. Logging Company in 1964. 

The brothers continued to diversify. They purchased neighboring properties, established a Douglas-fir seedling nursery and eventually fulfilled Alvin’s longtime dream of creating a lodge where people could experience the beauty of the Umpqua. The Big K Guest Ranch opened in 1993 and has since welcomed guests from around the world for hunting, fishing, weddings, and outdoor recreation. 

Today, Alvin and Virgil’s grandsons Seth Kesterson, Gary Williamson and Quintin Magee are carrying that legacy forward. Their approach combines modern technology and forestry practices with a deep understanding of the property’s history. The family manages Douglas-fir as its primary timber species, while also maintaining white fir, western redcedar, incense cedar, alder, oak, ash and pine. 

Their commitment to active forest management has been especially evident following a catastrophic snowstorm in 2019. The storm damaged stands across the property and forced the family to reassess its management plans. Over the past seven years, they have harvested more than four million board feet of timber, using both thinning and clearcutting where appropriate and salvaging heavily damaged stands. They have also planted more than 200,000 seedlings and converted hundreds of acres of steep, cattle-compacted pasture into productive Douglas-fir forest. Invasive species such as Scotch broom and blackberry are continually controlled to give new forests a better chance to establish. 

With nearly nine miles of Umpqua River frontage, the family has invested in fencing streams and ponds, improving livestock watering facilities and upgrading roads, ditches and culverts to reduce erosion. They are also working with the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) to replace older culverts with fish-passage designs. The property supports blacktail deer, Roosevelt elk, black bear, and gamebird like grouse and quail. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife use the property for  fish, deer and elk surveys, as well as eagle and osprey monitoring and research. 

Big K has hosted forestry competitions, Tree Farm tours, Women in Agriculture events and industry training, while offering visitors opportunities to hunt, fish, hike, bike, raft and experience the working forest firsthand. After more than a century, the Kesterson Family Tree Farm remains a working example of how a family can adapt without losing sight of its roots.