Industrial logging did not reach these remote areas before the 1970s. After that, the forests disappeared at a fast pace. Kalevi Paadar, a reindeer herder from Nellim, tells: "The pastures have been felled so ruthlessly that the reindeers are left without wintertime feed. The east side of the herding group's grazing grounds has been logged so badly that there is only one place where the reindeers like to stay, where there are still some old forests left. This winter only a third of our reindeers stayed in the area. The rest ran southwards all the way to the protected areas of Saariselkä".

The logging have changed the pasture rotation system and made shepherding almost impossible. "Before, the herd stayed somewhat put. Nowadays, you can’t find the reindeers in the morning where you have left them in the evening. The reindeers roam around looking for better pastures. They seek their way to swamps and waterfronts, where there is no disturbing felling waste. The reindeer flees the logging".

"Metsähallitus tells the public that they have negotiated with the reindeer herders and reached agreements, but in reality it is not so. Before, we used to have negotiations, but it had no significance, always, the logging went on anyway. When it is decided upon, how much forest has to be felled, it is always done, no matter how much we try to resist. Before, we could sometimes agree to postpone some logging with five years or to wait with some felling until another one was finished. Now they don’t even notify us about their logging. Now there seems to be no more room for negotiation."

The survival of reindeer herding in the area depends on the last winter pastures that remain. Metsähallitus has said that it is not logging the "untouched natural forests" of Upper-Lapland for now. This does not help the reindeers in Nellim, where most of the forest has been selectively logged in the previous decades or early 20th century. The forests are, however, vital for reindeer herding.

"The future of reindeer herding depends here on a few years. One hill is cut clear every year. If the logging proceed to Kaitavaara and around the lake Sarmijärvi, one cannot know what will happen "

"The young should still have the possibility to continue reindeer herding. Yet now everything is destroyed in one generation. The whole area is felled and sowed at the same time. Soon the whole area will be new growth, where you cannot get through nor see anything. The next generation can keep their hand in their pockets and look at what used to be reindeer herding".

Nellim is a small village of 200 inhabitants. In the 1970s several woodsmen lived there, but now there are only four left. The other employees of Metsähallitus come from the south for the logging. The forests of Nellim are regularly cut with heavy machinery as well.

"If reindeer herding gets extinct, there will only be pensioners and maybe a few fishermen left here. Will there be tourists to fill the gap? I have many times thought of selling the reindeers, but the source of livelihood keeps up the hope. One has to try and carry on. The hopes are high - if we just could preserve the existing forests from the felling. "

(Based on an interview of Kalevi Paadar in Nellim 7 February 2005)