Visiting the region, you'd think that dense evergreen forests are the "natural" state of the ecosystem, but this is largely an artifact of 150+ years of fire suppression.
Also, GP never made this assertion you're claiming if you read the actual comment
The issue is the sustainability of these ecosystems and the impact on life around it. The indigenous peoples lived a much tighter connection to the land, with a give and take, recognizing the fundamental interdependence.
The theme for the last hundreds years has not been sustainability, but value extraction. Value extraction without regards to sustainability is a classic trade giving away long term success while gaining short term rewards.
GGP's statement was talking about the appearance of the current state of these forests, not comparing two types of human intervention
The "true" natural state of a region is one without any management or intervention from anyone.
We are not "invasive" species and contrary to what the rocket man says, Earth is our home and we will not be anywhere else, so the only solution is to use our brains and judgment.
I'm not claiming Australian Aboriginals are "magic" but holy shit did they do a great job of looking after ecosystems compared to any modern civilization?
I personally think there was some magic about their way of doing things. The oldest known civilization on Earth which some how didn't destroy the climate, pollute the ocean, poison fish stocks with mercury, kick start mass extinction events and litter the world with microplastics.
I've been to remote parts of Australia where they still have traditional land management practices going on. It's a wonderful thing to see. The forest was so beautiful and pristine looking, it was as if the whole landscape looked like a beautiful garden. It was more inspirational than any city I've seen.
As someone with young kids, I was thinking to myself how absurd our situation is. I wanted to feed my kid some tuna and then I realized that it's not healthy for them to eat it. Can you believe how freaking bad this is? We've poisoned the ocean so badly, kids shouldn't eat from it. It's like the whole of our civilization needs an honest performance review but we're not going to get one because we're also our own manager.
> you'd think that dense evergreen forests are the "natural" state of the ecosystem
They are speaking of the current state of the forests and how they would appear natural, not that one land management practice was more or less natural than the other.