So, beyond more easily taming animals and getting a heads-up for events, is there a really good reason to be nice to nature? 'Cause I've been debating putting a half-dozen high-powered druidic-device/wood-chipper combos out in the wilderness for the easy meat/leather and the 'Cons' side of my list is a bit on the short side.
If you manage to pull that off, you will discover an exploit that I haven't figured out a proper way to deal with: Wild animals killed by traps do not count against your score.
Anyway, no, those are currently the only two benefits, aside from role playing. (Then again, those Dark Gnomes had to have come from somewhere...) I do intend to deepen the druidic game though.
(P.S.: Forget wood-chippers. Catapults are much more fun
)
Edit: With the latest patch, this is no longer the case. Druidic merit must be positive to do most things with the advanced animal training area. However, hunting in general doesn't lower your score too much.