The Native Americans and English colonists inhabited many contrasting ideals, individual beliefs based on culture, and had distinctive technological resources available to each of them that will ultimately affect the way each group utilize the ecosystems of New England. In the novel "Changes in the Land", written by William Cronon, a collection of essays would be organized into a compilation of explanations and subjective reasoning to assist in a better understanding of how the two separate ways of living had such different effects on each other and the New England ecosystems. Cronon places emphasis on the fact that although the Native Americans and English colonists viewed and interacted with the environment differently, neither one of the groups supersedes or outplays the other. In fact, each group possesses a similar goal of placing their own personal influence on an allegedly "natural " system. This common goal that each group shared would become simple to achieve once each group found a way to use their ecosystems to their advantage even if that meant using strategies and methods of survival that differed from one another. .
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In chapter one and two, Cronon elaborates further on the "ecological transformation of Colonial New England ". This chapter begins to introduce in detail the difference in how the Native Americans and English colonists lived on the land. He introduces one of the ways the Native Americans manipulated their environment with their "woodland burning ". The Native Americans used this method of setting fire to the forest as a way to allow an ample amount of sunlight in order to ensure the growth and blossoming of species such as birch, white pine, and various shrubs that the Native Americans Needed. (30) Ironically, the colonists would end up endlessly appreciating these many miles of burned forests leaving a shortage of wood, but an ample amount of "most sought after of colonial trees ", the white pine.