After 10,000 years of aboriginal management, the term, "natural forest" is a myth. The reason they aren't the same is because humans aren't harvesting pine nuts, coppicing gooseberries, and killing both herbivores and competing predators. We need to learn how to run them differently, but doing that while retaining the early successional species that give restart its microbial life will take time and experimentation, not "preservation." This is to say nothing of the influence of exotics.
If our forests were actually managed, as opposed to either clear cut, or not cut, there would be way less forest fires, etc. The Germans have the right idea, IMO, as they have locals manage their forests...the proper trees get cut and used as fence posts, whatever. The local people have direct stake and say in the proceedings.
The downside to that is a “forest mafia” begins to take shape, but there is a lot of peer pressure and at the end of the year the forest is in balance and targeted hunting keeps the animal populations in check.
Can anyone explain to me what beneficial effect the forest service has? Some guy from wherever who works for someone in DC?