Ann. Zool. Fennici 45: 81–101 ISSN 0003-455X (print), ISSN 1797-2450 (online) Helsinki 29 April 2008 © Finnish Zoological and Botanical Publishing Board 2008 Transitions in herd management of semi-domesticated reindeer in northern Finland Timo P. Helle1 & Lotta M. Jaakkola2 1) Finnish Forest Research Institute, Rovaniemi Research Unit, P.O. Box 16, FI-96301 Rovaniemi, Finland (e-mail:
[email protected]) 2) Environmental sciences, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland Received 9 Jan. 2007, revised version received 5 Nov. 2007, accepted 2 Mar 2007 Helle, T. P. & Jaakkola, L. M. 2008: Transitions in herd management of semi-domesticated rein- deer in northern Finland. — Ann. Zool. Fennici 45: 81–101. In northern Finland, reindeer-herd management has experienced two major transitions: extensification of intensive herding, and development of supplementary/corral feeding in winter. The transitions were studied in six herding associations in different parts of the Finnish reindeer management area. It was suggested that intensive herding turns into more extensive forms as the reasons for intensive herding (predation, reindeer dis- appearing to foreign areas, protection of agricultural fields) gradually ceased to exist. The results of the study, based on interviews of elderly reindeer herders, were variable. In the three southern areas intensive herding changed to the free ranging system at the latest during WWII, whilst in the northern areas intensive herding was replaced by extensive herding with the aid of snowmobiles in the 1960s. In the southern herding associations, especially, supplementary/corral feeding in winter was considered neces- sary, from the 1970s onwards, to compensate for the loss of arboreal lichens associated with forest regeneration.