In the U.S. today there are 13.2 million acres of old growth, i.e. large trees 200 years of age or older. We're running out of wilderness. The U.S. has permanently protected 104 million acres of land, much of it forested, in the Wilderness Preservation System. It's part of a larger total of 270 million acres that is off limits to all commercial activity, including logging, mining and grazing. Clear cutting, the practice of harvesting most trees in a given area, destroys the forest.
Clear cutting is a sound practice that benefits future forests.
By mimicking natural wildfires, clear cutting is widely recognized by forest scientists and even by conservation groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund, American Forests, the Society of Professional Foresters as an ecologically sound technique for reforesting many softwood species. That's because for their survival conifer seedlings typically require sunlight from an open canopy and cannot survive in shade. A natural forest supports more ecological diversity than a managed forest. Managed forests, even those with some clear-cutting, often produce more biodiversity than completely natural forests, according to U.S. Forest Service studies in the Lake States and New England. Even tree farm plantations contain a rich mosaic of plant and animal life.