REFLECTIONS IN BULLOUGH’S POND by Diana Muir, University Press of New England, Hanover, N.H., 2000, 312 pages, $26.

BANGOR – Mainers, like many New Englanders, have long made a living off the land and sea. It hasn’t been easy. For starters, there isn’t much here to work with, and what little there is has been spread thinly as the population has increased.

Rather than just making do with what they have, people here have taken the few natural resources in the area and sustained themselves profitably for hundreds of years. In “Reflections in Bullough’s Pond: Economy and Ecosystem in New England,” Diana Muir examines the history of New England, its land use and the implications of that land use for the region’s ecology and economy.

“New England is rich despite the fact that it was born poor. …” Muir writes in the book’s introduction. “Our soil is thin, our weather cold, and the mineral resources that lie under our mountains are negligible. Yet the people who live here are and have long been prosperous. ‘Reflections in Bullough’s Pond’ asks why this should be so, and what it means for the planet.”

During a recent interview in Bangor, Muir discussed the book, which she released in 2000 after nearly 10 years of research.

“Essentially I wrote this book to please myself and in some sense to answer some interest that I had,” Muir said. “I’m a historian, basically, with an interest in hiking, the outdoors and the environment. That seemed to go together.”

Named after a body of water near her home in Newton, Mass., “Bullough’s Pond” tells of New England’s industry and inventions, with a chapter dedicated to Maine’s early paper industry. It’s not a light read, though it is interesting. Part history text, part cautionary tale, the book describes how New Englanders have triumphed over a series of “ecological crises.” But it also sends a warning that the resources we have are neither unlimited nor renewable.

“Your way of making a living can come to a grinding halt if you use up whatever your resource is,” Muir said. “This is an issue that we either deal with or we have a major diminution of human numbers on the planet. The planet will do just fine. The question is, will human beings be living here and will they be living in comfort.” Along with overfishing and overforesting, Muir is concerned with the depletion of topsoil which takes place when land is clear-cut. She said it is a resource that takes thousands of years to renew.

“We are destroying the topsoil,” Muir said, adding that it takes about 1,000 years for a forest to produce 1 inch of topsoil. Much of Maine has only 3 inches of topsoil now. Without topsoil, nothing will grow, producing an ecological crisis that even the most inventive New Englander may not be able to overcome.

While working on “Bullough’s Pond,” Muir wrote two children’s books, “Cocoa Ice,” about New England’s ice-exporting industry, and “Giants in the Land,” about cutting and transporting white pines for use as masts on England’s naval ships. “Giants in the Land,” released under Muir’s married name, Diana Appelbaum, was named one of Yankee magazine’s “40 Classic New England Children’s Books” in December 2000.

The children’s books are in part a result of Muir’s research and in part an introduction to the issues that she lays out for adults in “Bullough’s Pond.” She now is working on a book for adults that examines what “resource crisis” caused people to initially become farmers. This, along with her other books, will aim to educate people so that resources will be there for future generations to use.

“If we are given certain resources that support us, we have a responsibility to pass it on – all of it, from the Gulf of Maine to the condition of the topsoil, in as good or better condition than we found it.”