After finishing school and military service, an alternative to reindeer herding was to become a welder. That would have meant moving away from the area that was his home. The nature attracted him back to his home village and to reindeer herding. "It makes your mind peaceful, the freedom of the nature, and the nature itself".

The forests with tree hanging lichen and the ground lichen areas for the reindeer were on the northern side of the lake Paadar. There were also the blueberry hills blanketed with moss, and the Etusolmijárvet lake area, where Aslak used to go fishing, the wetlands where cloudberries used to grow, and the forested hills where the capercaillies and willow ptarmigans flourished.

At that time, like today, reindeer herding was learned by going along to the forest with the father or another experienced reindeer herder: "My father let me go with Uula, and Uula, me and Jouni Uutela later had a herd together for a long time within the co-operative. He took me along and always showed me what this and that was and how it worked. When you start to work with the reindeer there is plenty of things that you have to get to know. You have to know the animal and how it behaves, where it roams and what kind of problems it survives. The grazing forests were good. We would drive close with the snow scooter and ski closer, round up the reindeer. During winter they stayed on one hill, because the lichen was so good there."

During the winter the reindeer in Muotkatunturi co-operative were kept in three different herds. Every herd would have an area where the reindeer were able to dig food until spring. Later because of the logging and building the forestry roads in Paadarskaidi the reindeer started to wander. The reindeer from Tirro and the herd in the middle were mixed, and they could not be rounded up by skiing, because they were spread on such a vast area. A fence was built along the northern coast of the 10km long lake Paadar and next to river Vasko towards north, but still the reindeer would try to go north over the bridge on Vasko. From 1993 to save the limited winter grazing forests the calving does were taken to the fell area on the northern side of the main road to Angeli instead of letting them calf fenced in the forests.

Forestry roads have formed a net across the former grazing routes close to lake Paadar. Along with logging, they effect other wildlife in the forest apart from the reindeer. The reindeer herders don't need the roads. They make it easier for the hunters to move, but the capercaillies are starting to disappear. Luckily there still are elks present. Where no logging have taken place the lichen is still hanging from the trees like long beards. According to Aslak, not even pollution has affected it. "Mets¨hallitus is eating the tree hanging lichen, not the pollution. When there is fifty metres between two pine trees the wind is so hard that the lichen can't grow there." A forest with tree hanging lichen is also a good shelter for any forest animals that avoid open spaces. "God had a meaning when he created the pine, a tree with lichen protects also birds. If there is only one tree in the open then everybody passing by is going to see you sitting on the branch. Also the snow is softer in the forest than on a logged area. Litter falling from the trees affect the snow so that it melts faster and it's easier for the reindeer to dig ground lichen."

Today's situation could make Aslak think twice if he had to choose his profession now: "Today I think I'd almost choose welding as my profession. Having a steady job is almost better today than working with reindeer, the expenses have skyrocketed, but for my own peace of mind... if I had to live in a city I'd be a spiritually ill person within a couple of years, there's so little space there. I suppose I'm the same kind of a forest being as those birds and trees."

- Eini