He then goes on to note that "the Wilderness in Virginia... was quite open in 1864, but nowadays is extremely dense."
I don't know what the original/natural state of the Virginia forests were, but I have no doubt that the Indians shaped the forests to their advantage long before the white man arrived.
As William Cronon notes in his book _Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England_ :
What most impressed English visitors was the Indians' burning of extensive sections of the surrounding forest once or twice a year. "The Salvages," wrote Thoman Morton, "are accustomed to set fire of the Country in all places where they come, and to burne it twize a yeare, viz: at the Spring, and the fall of the leafe." Here was the reason that the southern forests were so open and parklike; not because the trees naturally grew thus, but because the Indians preferred them so. As William Wood observed, the fire "consumes all the underwood and rubbish which otherwise would overgrow the country, making it unpassable, and spoil their much affected hunting." The result was a forest of large, widely spaced trees, few shrubs, and much grass and herbage.
Now, to get back to Glorantha...
I believe the Aldryami use magical methods to the same effect in some parts of their forests, for mystical reasons of their own. Of course, other parts of the forest are so dense with brambles and thickets that rabbits hesitate to enter and only the runners and pixies pass with ease.
Peace,
Peter
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #280
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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