In the summer of 2024, I worked as a land ecology intern for the Watershed Institute in my home state of New Jersey. During my daily walks throughout the woods, I saw the devastating sight of a severely diseased beech tree. While the Watershed’s ecologists had known that this tree had Beech Bark Disease, no one had yet observed that it also had Beech Leaf Disease (BLD). Once I noted this, we also saw that BLD had already begun to infect surrounding beech stands. On this property and in many other forests around the world, beech trees are foundational species that take up large portions of the overstory, and in so doing, prevent the spread of invasive species and also serve as a key food source for wildlife in the Northeast. A loss of these trees to an invasive disease would cause a major blow to our forests. American Beech trees are my favorite trees because of their strength, beauty, and wide-stretching canopy. In order to contribute to saving my favorite tree and protecting our forests and ecosystems, I developed a research project to examine the spread of the disease on the property, gather information on the disease, and establish a monitoring and management plan for the future. Our forests need to have a diverse array of trees in order to be a sustainable source of support for all types of life. If an entire species is threatened or wiped out, our forests’ sustainability will be completely compromised. This research is part of my efforts to prevent their death and support sustainability through shared knowledge and action.