One could make the statement that the United States has already done this once. I was on the American Forestry Association's 1986 tour of New Zealand. The NZ Forest Service was still intact, but rumbling were strong. As far as fragmentation is concerned, I don't see that it would become an issue. There is very little bush remaining, and it is protected.
Landscapes are a mix of paddocks for sheep, farms, and plantations.
All are planted in very obvious rows that begin to disappear at about 20-25 years. I would like a copy of the article if you can copy it for me. Seems they came from George Stankey, who has been there and in Australia quite a bit and keeps close track of that whole happening. It is inane, for example, to explore questions of intergenerational equity within a neoclassical framework that commits the analyst to discounting the future by the rate of interest determined by the current generation. I always struggle with the economic concept of discounting.