Climate change, extensive and unsustainable logging practices, agriculture, and development have significantly reduced Earth’s wild spaces thereby threatening the health of the planet and all its inhabitants. These anthropogenic forces have had widespread impacts, and the future of our wild spaces, especially intact forests and old trees, is in peril. British Columbia (BC) has long been known for its wilderness and lush green forests, and coastal BC is home to unique biodiverse forest ecologies including old-growth trees who play a crucial part in the province’s natural health and contribute to the health of the planet. However, over the last decade, the province’s forests no longer function as carbon sinks, they are now carbon sources. Deforestation has diminished habitat for wildlife and accelerated extreme environmental conditions, such as mudslides and flooding. Even trees in urban areas are at risk, such as forested sites in the Vancouver environs that are currently being cleared for the Transmountain Pipeline expansion despite knowledge about the need to eliminate fossil fuels and expand the urban forest. Recent catastrophic weather events in BC—such as the heat dome of 2021, and increased wildfires—have underscored the accelerating climate emergency and highlighted the urgent need to change our relationship with our forest ecologies and trees.