Incredible, isn't it? I'm admittedly a bit of a tree nut. Not so much a tree hugger, but rather I enjoy trees and especially mature specimens. Wait, that came out all wrong...
I think sustainable logging is both necessary and practical.
What is kind of tragic is that there is very little old growth anywhere, the previous generations logged
everything. From Ontario down to Florida, it's all been chopped at least once and what remains are usually secondary or tertiary forest ecosystems that are in various stages of maturity - but rarely fully matured. It amazes me that no one thought about growth rates and renewal back then when pictures like these were taken - or perhaps greed was partnered with ignorance to ensure every last one was cut. Few stands were left for future generations.
You will likely never find a white oak with a 6' diameter trunk, let alone a 13'. Same with sugar maples here in Ontario. Once in a while, you find an old giant in a forest - close to 150' tall with a massive trunk. Or white pine - when they were being harvested in the early 1800s for naval use they averaged 1-2m in diameter. It you find one today that is half a metre, people think it's a giant, whereas it's really a teenager at best.
Imagine staring at an apparently limitless ancient forest, full of these behemoths, stretching over 150' into the sky. I've caught glimpses of forests like that in British Columbia and it is awe-inspiring to behold. I visited Maere Island (now protected) off Vancouver island and it was like being on the set of Jurassic Park. Huge bald eagle nests among 1,000-yr old cedars covered in clinging moss, spruce trees growing from a hollow 50' up on the trunk of an ancient tree...amazing.
Sad that our children and their children will never see forests like this. The generation after? Maybe.