"The forest"? Real forest is pretty rare isn't it? The vast majority of original timberland was logged out long ago and now is really secondary or tertiary growth, even that nominally protected in National Forests and BLM land, much of it replanted in light-loving species like Douglas Fir. 

I know very well what that looks like, I'd imagine, having seen what happened to the longleaf pine forests back East. They were re-planted in loblolly and slash plantations about every 24 years and some places were actually into the 4th generation. It was a mess, from the point of view of someone who has an idea of what the longleaf forest was like,  choked with brush and suspiciously devoid of life, even birds. 

New people would always be a little freaked out by that, but the indigenous species--especially the keystone gopher tortoise--really couldn't deal with the plantations very well: too much brush.  Sounds like the same happens in tree plantations out here. Keyword: tree plantation.