Reindeer Blog

(Pic Barents Observer) With soaring energy prices, alternative energy from domestic sources are increasingly of interest to nation states. Espcially if they are touted as being ‘green’ (low CO2 emissions) and are promoted by state subsidy programs.

(from Aftenposten) Reindeer herding in northern Norway is under constant threat from development that’s encroaching on grazing areas. Now state officials say they’ll heed warnings that reindeer operations will die out within 50 years.

“It’s a clear goal of this government to maintain today’s level of reindeer herding,” Ola T Heggem, state secretary in the Ministry [...]

Reindeer from Sweden are invading reindeer herding districts in Norway as the ongoing disputes between herders in Norway and Sweden and the unresolved border issues continue, according to an article in Namdalsavisa, and it is a matter for concern for both reindeer herders and scientists. Concerns relate to the impact on the pastures and the [...]

New hydropower projects, windmill parks and the construction of new houses and cabin put increasing pressure on the reindeer herders in Norway. The industry might vanish by year 2050 should the developments continue, a representative of the reindeer herders says.It is not climate changes, nor the high number of reindeers or the increasing motorized traffic [...]

Reindeer have been much in the media this last week. Several thousand reindeer from the Swedish side of the border have moved into Trøndelag region in Norway, in search of better pastures, according to this NRK report. This has meant a lot of extra work for reindeer herders on the Norwegian side of the border, [...]

Gold prices are at an all time high and this will certainly prompt a renewed gold rush in the Finnmark county, according to Jørgen Stenvold, Director of Store Norske Gull (SNG) in todays NRK Sami Radio. SNG is one of the largest mining companies in the region - with activities aleady underway in Karasjok and on the border [...]

(Pic: NRK Sami Radio) And no, they were not being careless.. According to a report in todays NRK Sami Radio, reindeer herders in Finnmark reported 45800 reindeer as being lost and of this number, made applications for compensation for 37,159 because of losses to predators. The County paid compensation for only 8 637 reindeer amounting to a total of 20.6 [...]

According to an article in the Financial Times, StatoilHydro plans to have a drilling rig working continuously looking for gas in the area around the Snøhvit development, over the next 18 months, to see if there is justification for the construction of a second LNG line. Eni of Italy, leader of the Goliat project, in [...]

Foto: Tor Schulstad. A driver who hit and killed a reindeer in Porsanger, has refused to pay compensation to the reindeer herder from Karasjok who owned the animal. The case has dragged on for some time and has now made its way to  the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and a large insurance company.  A representative of the [...]

 (Pic: Nrk) It is at Christmas time that global interest in reindeer is heightened, as reindeer have long been associated with Santa Claus’ preferred method of transportation. In fact a quick look at Google analytics shows that it is only at christmas time that large numbers of people type ‘reindeer’ into their google search window. [...]