Reindeer husbandry = a way to make meat out of the primary production of the tundra

Transcription

1 Reindeer husbandry = a way to make meat out of the primary production of the tundra

2 Why reindeer? 1. Can get food from nature in all seasons 2. Mobile can combine remote areas that are optimal in different seasons into a functioning grazing system

3 Not only meat production Ecosystem services: reindeer keep the landscape open in areas where climate would allow the development of dense woodlands and scrublands, important in a warming climate ecosystem services Sievju (Seiland): primarily open tundra or sparse, bich savanna But valleys inaccessible for reindeer covered by dense forest and scrub

4 maintaining habitats for arctic-alpine plants, which require open habitat and are often also favored by disturbance

5 Open landscapes reflect the incoming light back counteract greenhouse effect

6 kg/m**2 Tundra has also larger carbon storage than a northern forest forest advancement = net emission of CO 2 Hiilivarastot Abiskon seudun tuntureilla ja tunturikoivikossa 8 7 Carbon storage on tundra and in adjacent forest at Abisko, Swedish Lapland puut kenttä juuri maa trees field layer roots soil Hartley et al metsä forest tunturi tundra Nature Climate Change DOI: /NCLIMATE 1575

7 Ecosystem services = the main benefit of reindeer husbandry

8 summer: mountains; coast: lots of fresh food, few mosquitoes fresh leaves and herbs abound, spring continues at high mountains spring: rapid march towards coastal mountains Recall the natural land use cycle of wild and tame reindeer fall: inland tundra mushrooms! early winter: inland brushwood deep winter: conifer forest lichens easier to get; snow does not pack lichens mire plants

9 Biogeography of reindeer pastures C1: dry, continental climate. Lichen heaths cover most of the landscape, snow cover thin Excellent winter pastures OC: intermediate climate, lichen heaths on sandy soils, spruce forests with arboreal lichens, lots of mires, moderate snow depth Fair pastures in all seasons O1-03: rainy and snowy oceanic climate, no lichen heaths, lots of gasslands, meadows and snow beds Excellent summer pastures

10 Current range use Norway and Sweden: the sida / čearro system with long range migrations prevails; recent trend towards increasing range swaps across the border Stationary units in areas where summer and winter ranges form small scale mosaics Optimal?? Finland: all units stationary, borders between units follow adminstative borders, national borders closed

11 Consequences in Finland Reindeer do protect the tundra; Tundra has expanded in Finland in spite of warming climate; there are large tundra areas with only scattered old birches tundra like areas below climatic treeline

12 mechanism main trunks killed, reindeer eat basal recovery sprouts moth outbreak some trees have surviving branches above the reach of reindeer these trees survive and start to build broad canopies birch savanna

13 but the catch Lichens are largely gone, reindeer husbandry heavily dependent on feeding with hay or pellets

14 So what is the husbandry all about? The mobility of reindeer and its ability to find food in all seasons are not used So is it really reindeer herding? Or is it ecologically and economically rather a form of sheep herding the sheep just happen to have big antlers and produce little wool

15 In Norway, lichen cover is in better shape lichens eaten in winter, not trampled in summer

16 The difference can be seen from space Finland Norway

17 but the catch Birch brushwood (rissevuovdi) expands due to lack of spring / summer grazing Crowberry gradually replaces lichens Snow more evenly distributed but gets still hard and difficult to dig winter food supply declines and winter gazing conditions deteriorate

18 Advancing brushwood increases the fraction of solar radiation converted to heat in late winter Extrapolated over the entire Finnmarksvidda (area km 2 ), the difference in heat balance in March-May corresponds the energy needed to melt a km 3 of ice Finland Norway Cohen, J., Pulliainen, J., Menard, C.B., Johansen, B., Oksanen, L., Luojus, K., and Ikonen, J Effect of summer reindeer grazing on spring snowmelt, albedo and energy balance. - Remote sensing of Environment 135:

19 In Swedish Lapland, forest-tundra ecotone used in spring & fall

20 optimal range use Mountain birches and willows are grazed in spring in the forest tundra ecotone prevents forest and scrubland expansion Lichens of continental forest-tundra ecotones not trampled in summer Continental forest areas grazed only in winter, not trampled in summer

21 Originally, the same pattern prevailed everywhere When the border between Denmark (+Norway) and Sweden (+Finland) was determined1751 enlighted negotiators realized that it divides summer and winter ranges from each other; Sámi rights to use traditional grazing grounds regardless which citizenship they choose were granted in a separate annex, Lappcodicil Idea: to protect Sámi rights against both national states, parity between states was not considered

22 but some Sámi became countrymen, others foreigners on their own lands Natural instinct of national authorities: to promote the rights of countrymen and to restrict property use by foreigners Also negative attitude towards the Sámi as a group played a role: the extensive use of coastal Troms and Nordland by Swedish Sámi was hard to accept in Norway Both aspects played a role for the big change to come

23 some maritime Sámi had landed on the wrong side of the border around 1850 Norwegian authorities started to restrict the traditional rights of Ohcejohkka Sámi to fish in Barents sea; premise: these rights were not mentioned in Lappcodicil Finnish view: unreasonable that a large group of Norwegian Sámi can spend most of the year in Finland if the small group of Ohcejohkka Sámi are denied their traditional rights for maritime fishing But: Norwegian authorities prioritized contol over maritime resources, rights of reindeer nomads had low priority negotiations fail border closes 1852

24 Could we return to optimal use of the reindeer ranges of North Calotte? Optimally, each northern herding unit should have a piece of C1 with coniferous forest for winter, forest-tundra ecotone for spring and fall and oceanic tundra / mountain range for summer Stationary grazing The return to the old is also happening between Sweden and Norway, easy as herding systems are similar

25 Problems Long migrations require good control of herds by individual owners seldom the case in Finnish Lapland It takes decades for trampled lichen heaths to become excellent winter ranges how the reindeer survive in the meantime? Feeling of parity between the Sámi with different nationalities necessary, is often in conflict with traditional land rights of Sámi sidas (čearros)

26 Possibility or utopy? They don t know and I don t know either

27 he reindeer can move and the threats are real o are the long term benefits of creating balanced grazing units russels would love such a move money to fetch