If it was a commercially-managed forest, it's a bit dramatic to say it was "obliterated" any more than a cornfield gets "obliterated" when the corn is harvested in the fall. Tree seedlings would have been planted in the field soon after the wood was harvested.

The days of lumberjacks going into virgin forests to harvest wood in that area are over - it's all either national parks or other protected forests which might get thinned for fire management reasons but never clear-cut, or managed forests that periodically get harvested and replanted, just like corn and wheat. (Source: I grew up in Humboldt County and still have family there.)