Nature is infinitely beautiful.  The park changes every day, and beauty can be found in minute lichens or panoramic views.  All that beauty would be wasted, if not for humans.  One thing humans (some of them) do well, that so far seems to escape other species, is to be aware of the beauty around them.  Trees don't know they are beautiful.  Eagles don't think of themselves as majestic or graceful (I'm guessing).  My dogs don't seem to fully appreciate all the wonderfulness of being a dog, and instead they are content to lay on the couch like a cat or something.  Humans have the capacity, when they aren't busy destroying nature, of being that organ of the forest that can appreciate, record, remember, and enjoy.  I think I would enjoy being a tree, living for fifteen hundred years, and seeing the forest evolve around me.  I would be a Pacific yew, growing slowly, living two thousand years or more.  The tree itself sees nothing.  If not for humans, all of this beauty might be wasted. (Most of this beauty seems to be wasted on most visitors to the park.  Many of them talk loudly and incessantly, which it seems they could have done at home.  Others scream all the way through the park, which it seems like they could have done... never.  Most of them also trudge up and down the staircase, either staring at the steps or lost in their thoughts, as if they were climbing stairs at the park&ride.  Still others view the park as a place to throw their garbage or a place for their dogs to poop.  While I'm sure that many visitors to the park fully appreciate its beauty, they seem to be in the minority.)

Another thing the forest cannot do is plan.  If we are the brains of the forest, we can prepare for the future, such as landslides.  Nature has handled landslides just fine on her own in the past, filling in the barren soil with pioneer species such as alders that grow rapidly and enrich the soil with nitrogen and organic debris.  If a landslide happened today, exposing bare soil, it would be colonized by non-native, invasive species, such as blackberry, laurel, foxglove, alien grasses, butterfly bush, scotch broom, European ash, nipple wort, herb robert, and others.  We know the hillside is going to fail, sooner or later.  For the sake of the forest, we ought to remove all the invasive species from around the hillside, so that when the day comes, native pioneer species can colonize the bare soil instead of invasive species.  This would require a coordinated effort of many volunteers and local government, which seems unlikely at this point.  I hope the landslide holds off a few years. 

Humans are uniquely suited to become the mind of the biosphere.  Planet Earth would do just fine if humans suddenly vanished.  In most ways, Earth would be much healthier if we left.  However, if humans ever stop being a burden on the planet and choose to become an integrated member of their ecosystem, they could benefit the Earth by providing the services of memory, planning, and appreciation of beauty.  We know the Earth will die some day, being swallowed up by the giant red sun in a few billion years.  We ought to take advantage of that time to find a new home for Earth's life and beauty and ensure the survival of all the species of Earth.  Humans, more than any other species (that we know of) have the capacity to be the most helpful, beneficial species on the planet.  I hope they will get tired of consuming the planet to make more junk that will end up in landfills.  I hope humans will choose a symbiotic relationship with mother Earth.