American beech trees (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) comprise around 10 % of all trees greater than one centimeter in diameter in Massachusetts. American beech serve as important food sources for wildlife and create a unique habitat of intense shade. Recently, beech trees have been struggling with beech leaf disease (BLD), which is caused by a nematode (Litylenchus crenatae mccannii) infecting the leaf and leaf bud. Infected leaves show symptoms of darker green banding, discoloration, and leaf death, which eventually leads to the death of the entire tree. Previous studies have found that leaves with BLD have different near-infrared reflectance in the laboratory. We asked the question if these same bandwidths would have a signature of the disease on the forest scale using remotely sensed hyperspectral data. At the ForestGEO plot in Harvard Forest, we analyzed the NEON hyperspectral data for the years 2019, 2021, and 2024. We extracted hyperspectral data at the pixel scale (1m2) from field verified beech crown polygons. Trees with BLD were determined using annual health surveys that have been conducted since 2021. We found no significant difference in reflectance values across 380 to 2515 nm when comparing trees with and without BLD (n = 73). This includes the near-infrared bands that previous studies had identified as significant. However, increasing the sample size of beech trees may provide a stronger signal to detect BLD. Other preliminary results suggest that reflectance values, on average, decrease as trees become sick and eventually die, particularly in the range of 750 to 1350 nm. We also observed lower reflectance values for trees with greater crown dieback, which suggests that, while we currently do not have a strong spectral signature of beech leaf disease, we can track tree health and decline using hyperspectral remote sensing data.