Bryant Tolar has spent most of his life in the woods. Growing up, his dad was a forest ranger in Florida, so he knew rather early on in life that he wanted to pursue a career in forestry. "From about the eighth grade I knew precisely what I wanted to do," Tolar said. "I wanted to go to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, study forestry, and become a forester."

That’s precisely the route Tolar took after high school. He attended the Tifton, Georgia, college and got his degree in natural resources management with an emphasis in forestry. After graduation, he worked for a consulting firm before joining the Georgia Forestry Commission. He spent a year with the Georgia Forestry Commission before joining F&W Forestry Services, where he has spent the last six years based out of Albany, Georgia.
Tolar started out at F&W Forestry Services as a forester and then moved into the role of field supervisor. Today, he works as a client manager, which has him overseeing, scheduling, and planning all of the company’s reforestation, site preparation, and prescribed burning, as well as its timber sales. "I take a lot of pride in the work that we do," Tolar said. "I want to make our clients happy. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about for me."