[jvanderbot]

Not necessariliy. Sustainable wood harvesting for fuel was common even in medeival europe. Once forests were cut back, coppicing was used:

https://acoup.blog/2019/07/12/collections-the-lonely-city-pa...

https://acoup.blog/2020/09/25/collections-iron-how-did-they-...

That second link is all about charcoal production for steel making. Once you have steel and charcoal, you can make steam powerered anything.