Random thought: humans view trees as vulnerable because they can't move out of the way of danger. But consider:
1. A single tree can produce tens of thousands of offspring.
2. Many of those seeds can remain dormant and viable for millennia.
3. Some living trees survive fit millennia themselves.
4. Trees vastly outnumber humans, maybe up to 100:1.
5. Many seeds die, but those that don't have found a niche that supplies them everything they need without having to move.
In contrast, humans:
1. Only produce a few dozen offspring at most. Barely replace their own population.
2. Cannot remain dormant once birthed.
3. Only survive for a century tops. Can only reproduce for maybe half that time.
4. So few of us. Individual humans live hundreds of feet apart, or at least dozens even in the densest cities.
5. Need to constantly burn energy moving around for their next meal. Could starve and die at any time in just a few days if they can't find water.
At a species level, the survival of humans begins to look much more perilous than the survival of many tree species.
Also I forgot to add:
6. Humans kill *each other* all the time. What the fuck humans?!? We have made ourselves our own biggest threat.
Trees do compete locally for water and sunlight and thus do kill each other, but only via circumstance, not intentionally.