New ways to collaborate and share data and workflows enable more effective approaches for addressing urgent environmental challenges. Amidst an ongoing data revolution and the emergence of environmental data science, hands-on coding events are a promising tool for seeking innovative data-driven solutions. In March of 2024, the Environmental Science Innovation and Inclusion Lab (ESIIL) and the CIRES Earth Lab co-hosted a Forest Carbon Codefest. Forests have the potential to regulate a changing climate through uptake of carbon dioxide. However, this function is being compromised by increasing wildfires and other disturbances, particularly in the western U.S. The goal of the Forest Carbon Codefest was for teams to define their own scientific questions that advance our understanding of aboveground forest carbon dynamics as they relate to forest disturbance in the Southern Rocky mountains, and then collaboratively answer that question in the form of a fully open, reproducible, and complete code repository. The event successfully promoted data-driven discovery by providing a solid foundation upon which to foster innovative questions and approaches in the field of forest carbon research. This foundation was composed of four key pillars: 1) a collaborative group of participants from varied industries, career stages, and perspectives, 2) a set of curated open data accessible via 3) a user-friendly cyberinfrastructure interface, and, 4) a refined yet open mission.