According to the chapter what is dr. eric sanderson goal

dr eric sanderson is a character from the book "a world without us". acording to this story dr sanderson's goal is to determine what manhattan island was in the past, before it became a city. sanderson is an ecologist who is interested in the way manhattan looked like in the 17th century.

i belive the answer is to determine what manhattan island was like before it became a city - apex