Land and Livelihood

The biophysical environment of any region dictates the use of resources, but resource use in turn affects the biophysical environment. In this chapter we explore that process for New England. In broad terms, this is an account of pastoralism. Temperate pastures for livestock grazing, high rainfall and mild temperatures first attracted Europeans to New England in the 1830s and 40s, and pastoral land use dominates the region today. There have been significant changes all the same. By the late nineteenth century, increased population and changes in the tenure and administration of land meant that parts of the region had been more closely settled by smallholders, depending on crops. And again, the advent of aerial fertilisation and reliable machinery for sowing pasture in the mid-twentieth century meant that livestock production reached a much more intensified level than hitherto.