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Fire Management in The Boreal Forest of Swedish Sápmi: Prescribed Burning and Consideration of Sami Reindeer Herding During 1920–1970

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Abstract

Forest owners and Indigenous Sami reindeer herders use the same land in northern Sweden for commercial forestry and winter grazing, respectively. Fire management has been controlled by foresters since the late-19th century, and Sami herders have had to deal with the effects of both fire suppression and prescribed burning. However, the environmental history of fire management and reindeer herding in Sweden has never been thoroughly investigated. We therefore analyzed written archives in order to understand how reindeer herding was considered in planned burning during the mid-20th century, and how the effects of prescribed burning on reindeer herding were interpreted by foresters. We supplemented the interpretation of written sources by including local Sami reindeer herders’ insights about prescribed burning. Written records show that reindeer herding was increasingly integrated into the planning process during the 20th century, yet foresters failed to include important aspects of reindeer herding in their interpretation of the effects of prescribed burning. The Sami consider the effects of burning in terms of fodder availability, opportunities for reindeer to graze the fodder, and any impact on the reindeer’s movement patterns and thus herd management. The Sami’s historical perspective is essential in order to reconstruct a comprehensive picture of the past, and adapt forestry measures effectively in the future.

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Material Availability

The archive material is referenced and is accessible at the archive center (Arkivcentrum Nord in Härnösand, Sweden).

Data Availability

The data of the interviews have been anonymized in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation. They are kept by the authors and can be consulted on request.

Change history

Notes

  1. The Swedish Forestry Law (1979: 429) states that “before felling takes place in year-round reindeer herding areas (areas where reindeer husbandry is permitted throughout the entire year) the Sami reindeer herding community concerned shall be given the opportunity to be consulted”.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the members of Malå reindeer herding community, as well as reindeer herders from Västra Kikkejaure reindeer herding community, for their willingness to share their knowledge and experience. We also thank the Swedish Regional State Archive (Arkivcentrum Nord) in Härnösand, and particularly John-Erik Hansson for his help in navigating the archive files. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which helped to improve the manuscript. SEES-Editing corrected the written English. This work was supported by the Carl-Göran Adelswärds stiftelse (Sweden), and AgroParisTech (France).

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This work was supported by the Carl-Göran Adelswärds stiftelse (Sweden), and AgroParisTech (France).

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  1. Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ecologie Systématique Evolution, F-91405, Orsay, France

    Sarah Cogos & Samuel Roturier

  2. Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 90183, Umeå, Sweden

    Sarah Cogos & Lars Östlund

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  1. Sarah Cogos
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Correspondence to Sarah Cogos.

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Cogos, S., Östlund, L. & Roturier, S. Fire Management in The Boreal Forest of Swedish Sápmi: Prescribed Burning and Consideration of Sami Reindeer Herding During 1920–1970. Environmental Management 68, 295–309 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01503-9

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