> has returned to a more natural state Well it's no longer managed as farmland and has young forests growing on it now. It's hard to say what would be "natural

> has returned to a more natural state Well it's no longer managed as farmland and has young forests growing on it now. It's hard to say what would be "natural". The land on the east coast was being actively managed with controlled burning and cultivation of wild plants basically as soon as people arrived. Interestingly, there weren't indigenous earth worms then, so forests that weren't burned had deep beds of leaves. Before that there were glaciers and a totally different climate.