Is nature predictable? If so, how can we better manage and conserve ecosystems? Iterative ecological forecasting is an emerging interdisciplinary research area that aims to improve researchers’ ability to predict ecological processes on near-term timescales that can be validated and updated. In this forum, Dietze will discuss the challenges and opportunities in iterative ecological forecasting, present a framework to understand the predictability of ecological processes, and highlight ongoing efforts to build an ecological forecasting community of practice. He will draw on examples from a wide range of ecological processes, including: vegetation phenology, land-surface fluxes, tick-borne disease, freshwater resources, and the soil microbiome.