What I described is not a museum. It is a living, evolving ecosystem. It is however under the conscious control of humans. A milder version of this exists in th

What I described is not a museum. It is a living, evolving ecosystem. It is however under the conscious control of humans. A milder version of this exists in the form of national parks and wildlife reserves. It also is not mutually exclusive with preserving Earth's natural habitats. In fact, expanding beyond Earth makes it possible to outsource industry and agriculture off-Earth, to allow more of the Earth's surface to be returned to its pre-human state. Finally, in terms of human-engineered expansion of habitats for other lifeforms, there is the far more durable possibility of terraformed planets. These would require no active intervention to maintain once the terraforming has been completed. In short, the ascent of human civilization can be, and I would bet would likely to be, a massively positive development for all forms of Earth-based life.