	In practicing the identity of being Wamponaug, Mattapoisett is reinforcing the idea of the ecological other. Their saving the environment aligns with the ideology of the Ecological Indian, even if they aren’t biologically Native American, as well as the goals of the ecological subject. Connie, in experiencing the rejuvenated wilderness of Mattapoisett, is exposed to the pristine wilderness unlike that of her time and the Ecological Indian that causes her to assume the role of the ecological other. This influence of the Ecological Indian follows Connie as she reacts to her own time’s environment and the polluted space that she must experience, testing what it means for Connie to be the ecological other in her own time. I argue that through the use of the Ecological Indian, Woman on the Edge of Time forces Connie into being the ecological other as she unsuccessfully negotiates her connection to the wilderness within the terms of the ecological subject. 
	Even when Ray is discussing the ecological othering of Native Americans, she relies on the same definition of the Ecological Indian that Krech creates. She points out that Native American authors like Sherman Alexie had pushed back against “the emerging ecological sensibility of the 1970s environmental movement, which looked to Native Americans as premodern people who coexisted harmoniously with nature” through their writing stories about Native Americans. While the people of Mattapoisett are not premodern, relying on futuristic tech and language, it is apparent they not only learned how to coexist with nature, but how to conquer it through their preservation efforts. An example of their control comes from Luciente discussing how they can change the weather to better suit human needs but chose not to because “We’re cautious about gross experiments. ‘In biosystems, all factors are not knowable.’ First rule we learn when we study living beings in relation”. These “gross experiments” would upset the balance of nature and humanity and choosing not to do that demonstrates a respectful relationship between the futuristic people of Mattapoisett and the wilderness. They are enforcing the harmony of the Ecological Indian with nature through balancing the needs of the people to the needs of the environment and thinking of the environment as a communal resource. The environment also remains mysterious, as even though the utopia can control it, they don’t know how all ecosystems affect each other, allowing the environment to become more powerful than the utopia, guiding their decisions, traditions, and interacts just as the Ecological Indian suggested it would. 
Studying nature in this way is almost entirely fueled by the myth of the Ecological Indian.

Using a Native American identity in addition to the Ecological Indian, Mattapoisett is erasing historical tribal differences in favor of the Ecological Indian, this time in relation to how Luciente and others personally use the land they are on. 

Being Native American in this instance means doing something that isn’t inherently environmental, unnecessarily taking the life of a wild animal even though Mattapoisett is “ownfed” and doesn’t need to, while also suggesting that democracy could be used to erase a part of the identity that they are working to preserve. The assignment of the Wamponaug Indian identity is interested preserving an ecological past more than the actual tribal custom, which would disappear without practice because of how racial identity is assigned. The environment shaping the interactions of the people within it, as per the Ecological Indian, almost requires that they don’t hunt because it isn’t working in the name of preservation. 
