Dylan looks out the window in the main office of the Etoniah Creek State Forest in Florahome, Fla., Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. After graduating from the University of Florida, he found freedom in managing the forest. “I just hug trees all day,” Dylan says. (Alissa Gary/Atrium Magazine)
On a clear September morning, Dylan Fay steps out of his truck and onto a thicket of wild flora. He pulls out a neon-orange vest and throws it over his forest-green T-shirt. He hands me one, too, so passersby in the Etoniah Creek State Forest know we’re there on official business. He leads the way through a short brush toward a family of budding pine trees and starts counting.
The forest is quiet except for the crunch of our footsteps cracking twigs. We inhale the smell of dry leaves and clean air. As Dylan prepares to wrap his measuring tape around a tree trunk, a bird chirps overhead. He peers upward — he thinks he recognizes the call and confirms it using a birding app on his phone. He returns to logging the tree’s measurements on his specially designed forestry tablet.
Dylan counts young sand pine trees in Etoniah Creek State Forest in Florahome, Fla., Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. He’s tasked with counting, measuring and managing trees to construct the forests of the future. “It’s more just kind of like you’re flying your own ship,” he says, “but I definitely like it here.” (Alissa Gary/Atrium Magazine)Dylan surveys the height of a tree in Etoniah Creek State Forest in Florahome, Fla., Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. Among his favorite trees is the longleaf pine — “that’s like the default forester answer,” he says. The tree, which is native to Florida, supports wildlife and plays an important role in the forest ecosystem. (Alissa Gary/Atrium Magazine)Dylan shows off his “baby” — a pine tree he planted from seed — in his backyard in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. On a cool October afternoon, he rakes leaves in his backyard, where he occasionally raises trees. Crispy, fallen leaves became stuffing for Halloween pumpkin-shaped trash bags that sat near the front door. (Alissa Gary/Atrium Magazine)Dylan measures the width of a tree trunk in Etoniah Creek State Forest in Florahome, Fla., Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. Growing up in St. Petersburg, Fla., Dylan didn’t consider himself an outdoorsy person. But he sometimes traveled hours to the nearest parks and forests, piquing his interest in exploring Florida’s wilderness. “I kind of took over the personality of an outdoorsy person, because I’m like, ‘Oh, this is fun. I want to be that person,’” Dylan says. (Alissa Gary/Atrium Magazine)
The work is methodical but freeing. As a state forester, Dylan is accustomed to trekking vast expanses of prickling grass and towering pines, counting the trunks along the way. At 31, it’s his job to take stock of and shape the forest — he plants seeds today that, over decades, will grow into trees.
“I get to spend the day doing what I love, being outdoors,” Dylan says. “And, more generally, I get to not just play in the woods, but I get to shape the forest and manage it for future generations, and hopefully leave it better than I found it.”
Dylan plays the guitar in his home office in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. He developed his love of music from his older brother, and the two have gone to concerts together since they were young. (Alissa Gary/Atrium Magazine)
Dylan plays a piano annotated with musical notes in his house in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. The piano was passed down to his family by his grandmother. (Alissa Gary/Atrium Magazine)
Dylan hangs Halloween-themed string lights on his kitchen wall while his girlfriend, Angela Carten, looks on in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. The couple met while working at Best Buy, where they sometimes worked overnight shifts together. After spending time together outside work, the relationship “blossomed from there,” he says. (Alissa Gary/Atrium Magazine)
Dylan smiles as he chats with a fellow record-shopper at a vinyl sale at Cypress & Grove Brewing Co. in Gainesville, Fla., Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. Aside from spending his free time outdoors, biking and hiking, Dylan shops for records and enjoys music. (Alissa Gary/Atrium Magazine)
Dylan browses records at a vinyl sale at Cypress & Grove Brewing Co. in Gainesville, Fla., Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. His long-term goal in life is to “grow roots,” he says. After Angela graduates from college, it matters less where they live than what they want to do with their lives. “Whether it’s recreating or staying at home, I think we want to just do the things that make us happy,” Dylan says. (Alissa Gary/Atrium Magazine)
