Every single temperate habitat in North America has been managed by people for thousands of years. To presume that "leave it alone" and it will all be fine is scientifically simply wrong.
I say this from the authority of twenty years of detailed native plant habitat restoration consisting of five major types to a level unique on the Central Coast of California: "Leave it alone" and it dies. I can reinforce that assertion with nearly a thousand pages of photographic evidence spanning the entire American West. I have witnessed the same problems in lands from Texas to North Carolina, from Massachusetts to Illinois, from Iowa to Idaho. There is a difference between stewardship and preservation. If you look closely, G_d told ha'Adam to tend the garden. Yet it was clearly man who told Woman not to touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (yada, btw). Hence, the first sin was his disobedience and lack of appreciation for the privilege of dressing and keeping G_d's prized tree.
We are God’s stewards and yes - its a lot of work involved. Where I disagree with the Greens is we should give our civilized existence to make that end possible.
You talk about these two ideas as if they exist in tension. I can assure you that they do not. Humans can be a source of vitality for the entire natural world, from Everest to the Mariana Trench, from Sudan to Kamchatka. It is a matter of how we live on that land, not whether we are there or not. We are told to manage every bird, fish, and creature. There are no exceptions.
Thanks for that common sense backed up by strong evidence and a strong argument.
That kind of common sense is very uncommon.
Hats off to you.