Reindeer Blog

Two new certificates approved by the University of Alaska Board of Regents last week are aimed at increasing the number of veterinary technicians and resource managers in rural Alaska. - a key area of focus will be reindeer husbandry, as knowledge of this field was seen as a key marker of sustainable resource use, according to a report in the Fairbanks Daily News

“If a person knows how to manage a reindeer herd, which involves managing vegetation, soil, and wildlife she or he could use those principals to manage and sustain almost any other resource” according to Greg Finstad, the manager of UAF’s reindeer research program. Traditional knowledge will be a key part of the programme.

In an article in the LA Times, the diversity of the world’s languages was highlighted, and this diversity is a key element in the transmission of traditional knowledge. As this linguistic diversity is threatened , so is the richness of the worlds collective heritage and and as a result, key tools for adaptation are lost.

The long running debate about how many reindeer is too many opened a new chapter this week when the calculated 94,000 reindeer in Finnmark were declared to be too many, according to an article in Euroarctic

Source: Euro Arctic. Pic by Annette Nantell, Scanpix.

Three Swedish Sámi villages are allowed to turn their reindeer out to pasture on private landowners’ ground. A court of appeal confirmed a verdict from a district court on Wednesday. The dispute has been running for two years since landowners in Nordmaling village in County Vasterbotten questioned the Sámi pasture rights on private land. A district court published a decree 18 months ago stating the rights of the Sámi villages. Hundreds of landowners appealed to higher court to change the decree, but failed to stop Sámis to use their grounds as pasture land.  “This means we can move our herds down here. Our rights are strengthened, says Inger Baer Omma from Vapsten Sámi Village.” The area has been used as pasture land for generations - an established tradition, according to the courts. 

My name is Olav Mathis Eira and I am a reindeer herder from Northern Norway. I am 50 years old and have worked with reindeer my whole life. I have around 500 reindeer. My family has had this as a livelihood since the 1400s. I am married and have three sons. Read the rest of this entry »

According to a report in RIA Novosti,  residents in Russia’s Far North have seen a rise in polar bears wandering around Amderma village, in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous district, a spokesman for the local administration said Wednesday. This is within the Severnyy Brigade Number 22 pasture areas.

According to the main right of centre political parties in the Troms and Nordland  regions of Northern Norway, it is unacceptable that reindeer husbandry could prevent the development of 50 new jobs and the construction of 600 cabins in the region, on the grounds of a former military base. The local board leader of the Reindeer Husbandry Administration said that there was too little knowledge about reindeer husbandry in the region and as a result the  risk of conflict was high.

The Norwegian Reindeer Husbandry Administration has drawn attention to the fact that the accelerated melting of glaciers in the Seiland area of West Finnmark,  poses serious problems for reindeer husbandry and that this will continue to be a problem in the light of climate change.

(Pic. Canadian Press) An international network of scientists is examining caribou and wild reindeer herds across the Arctic, from Alaska and the Yukon to Russia and Greenland, in a report from CBC.

The four-year, $4-million International Polar Year project aims to gather consistent data across the circumpolar region on those herds, how they are changing, and how that affects people who depend on the animals for survival.

Russian authorities say they are ready to give Russian Arctic ports new roles linked with the development of oil and gas industry in the region. Among proposed measures are major capacity increases at current ports and the creation of new ones, according to Rosbalt Nord.