That's really interesting! Do you have any links or more info on this process?

Basically you skip the first two steps with free bird poop.

Can i apply this to other areas as well, like building a house or something else?

You foster a family of possums at the same time.

You don't.

Instead, you always have a roving band of chickens following you to eat them.

this is now canon in the pokemon universe

And actually in some places prarieland is probably more important for conservation.

Ie. plant a couple of native fruit trees for, dig a small perrenial pond and add some rocks so amphibians can feel safe, and sprinkle in seeds for native grasses, especially edible ones and let nature do it’s work.

This is just an example of course. Succession can look differently and lead to very different results, depending on where exactly it is happening.

I'd also argue, that leaving your garden alone to let succession run its course is not neccessarily the ideal to strive for. Even simply speeding up the process to get to the final stage isn't.

Gardens are a very different sort of ecosystem from an extended woodlands area and there are many ways to use them for human recreation and as a habitat for many species, that even exceed the biodiversity of the potentially naturally occuring ecosystem.
A trimmed suburban lawn is just one of the worst options.

So how do I skip the weeds and grasslands stages and go directly to mature oak-hickory forest, then?

Order a bunch of plants that are native to your region, plant the medium and shade loving varieties under the trees, see what sticks

Given time enough sand and leaves and other organic matter deposits in the soil, decomposed by long numbers of life cycles together with dirt and moisture becomes soil, but you cannot plant everywhere trees. Imagine plant an oak in the Sahara, no chance it’ll make it after 3 hours at noon. That’s what succession suggests!

Yikes. One of those good in theory, but completely backfired ideas

Where tf do you live?

Nvm Canada. That would make sense in some places.

Destroyed no matter the cause? I've heard of laws like that for intentionally cutting down healthy trees, but it never applied to natural causes.

Is it kudzu? Shit's everywhere.

I love spiders.