Indeed, the more one achieves, the more one contributes. One might even suggest it is the defining characteristic of life - a better way to increase entropy.
I dunno, those forests were going to burn eventually anyways-- so is that a contribution?
To really make your mark on entropy you have to bring things to a lower energy state that requires crossing a substantial barrier, such that it wouldn't happen on its own.
No, you want a stable ecosystem that can keep alive as much life as possible which can maximise entropy production over much longer timescales. It's necessary to maximise the whole system's entropy exhaust over time. Much better if we can get people to colonize new planets, or create a Dyson sphere or whatever.
