SummaryForests make immense contributions to societies in the form of ecological services and sustainable industrial products. However, they face major challenges to their viability and economic use due to climate change and growing biotic and economic threats, for which recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology can sometimes provide solutions. But the application of rDNA technologies to forest trees faces major social and biological obstacles that make its societal acceptance a ‘wicked’ problem without straightforward solutions. We discuss the nature of these problems, and the social and biological innovations that we consider essential for progress. As case studies of biological challenges, we focus on studies of modifications in wood chemistry and transformation efficiency. We call for major innovations in regulations, and the dissolution of method‐based market barriers, that together could lead to greater research investments, enable wide use of field studies, and facilitate the integration of rDNA‐modified trees into conventional breeding programs. Without near‐term adoption of such innovations, rDNA‐based solutions will be largely unavailable to help forests adapt to the growing stresses from climate change and the proliferation of forest pests, nor will they be available to provide economic and environmental benefits from expanded use of wood and related bioproducts as part of an expanding bioeconomy.