Tree-afflicting pests, such as insects and pathogens, could change forests in ways promoting invasions by non-native plants. After tree death associated with the fungal pathogen oak wilt (Bretziella fagacearum (Bretz) Z.W. de Beer, Marincowitz, T.A. Duong & M.J. Wingfield) and its attempted containment (severing root connectivity and sanitation removal of infected trees), we examined change in cover of the non-native liana Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb.; hereafter Celastrus) at 28 sites in temperate black oak (Quercus velutina Lam.) forests, Ohio, USA. During our five-year study spanning 2020 to 2024, Celastrus cover increased significantly (P < 0.05) through time at oak wilt sites but not in untreated reference forest sites without evidence of oak wilt. Celastrus cover increased by an order of magnitude, up to an average of 32× among oak wilt treatments up to 10 years old. By 2024, Celastrus cover ranged from 6-22% on average in 5-10-year-old oak wilt treatments, compared with 1% cover in reference forest. Results indicate that non-native plant invasion accelerated following disturbance associated with a fungal pathogen and its attempted containment, and more generally, suggest that tree-afflicting pests can promote invasive plants in forests. Co-management of tree-afflicting pests and non-native plants may become increasingly important to ensure forests recovering from tree mortality are dominated by native plants.