How about Australia?

If people in Lappland (about 50 000) could vote on the matter, which side would be the winner ? We have to remember that also the Sami people log their forest. A reindeer is basically an animal living on the fells.

You are , probably with purpose, mixing those demonstrating againgst you. They are not representatives of Metsahallitus but workers of it and local contractors of it and other local people.

Jukka - the demonstrators are there with permission from metsahallitus, wearing metsahallitus, and the organisers are metsahallitus officals using official metsahallitus phone numbers as media contacts for their camp.

metsahallitus has failed to explain why they are sponsoring these bizarre antics.

I have to disagree with you about the fells - in the summer the reindeer tend to spend time there, but in winter they tend to spent their time grazing lower down....so what is your point on this matter?

As a Finn I certainly know that "poro" is called also "tunturipeura", sorry, if you dont know Finnish, you should already. We have also metsapeura in Finland. Where reindeer herds depends on the time of year. The point ıs that naava of old trees is the last alternative for reindeer as nutrition. Ask scientists.

What is Greenpeace position to the too big number of reindeer in Lappland ? That is what scientists say too. This has been made possible by the skidoos what the herders use.

Sorry, Dave, I still trust more scientists.

Hi guys,
check this:
http://tinyurl.com/72ul4

It's in Finnish, though, but a brief translation:

"Heard on the radio that GP is leaving. The smoke is clearing, and these scary cold-blooded criminals are drawing back to their base in Ivalo (sic!) to shake the village with furious horror and cruelty. Ragged and empty-eyed villagers are heading towards Sodankylä, where the Red Cross is providing them with blankets and medicine in a refugee camp. The Anti-Terror group is gathering strength by tanking more beer and noisier instruments. Hangmans nooses and crosses for burning are manufactured at homes in three shifts. There has also been some movement seen at the metsähallitus office, noisy rustling of papers has been heard. Old lichen forests are being ruined fast and the reindeer are eating old Lapin Kansa -newspapers for their immiediate hunger. The Sami parliament is preparing border posts for Sami Land and building sites are being issued to all indigenous people of Lapland."

Jukka - good point, naava/luppo (tree-hanging lichens) is is the last resort - it's a crucial source of reindeer food in early spring, when no other naturally occurring food is available.

Greenpeace doesn't think that there are too many reindeer in Lapland - just too little old-growth forest.

Matti says:
Yes, reindeer need the tree-hanging lichen for their nutrition. In forested areas they are dependent on it in late winter, when they can't access the ground through thick and hard snow. That is what scientists and reindeer herders say. But as well as the tree-hanging lichen, it would also be good to remember that forestry work also harms the ground-growing lichen - logging waste, machine tracks, construction of forestry roads etc.

What other position you can take ? The truth is that the number of reindeer in Lapland is mucher higher than it used to be before the Sami people and other reindeer herder (also other Finns are reindeer herders) started to use motorızed skidoos. The problem is too low meat price so you need more reindeers.

And about the support. Why as much as about 3000 people of Inari undersigned a petition/address against you? And why the local forest people are protesting against you. Simply because they loose their jobs if you win.

You are honest but I suspect you knew too little before you came to Inari.

You should read Jouni Kittis article in detail from Aamulehti.

Jukka - tell me this. The amount of reindeer is higher compared to what? Just because there's no precedent doesn't mean that there's something wrong with having lots of reindeer. The more the merrier, that's what we say.

We realise that Finns are also herders - but this issue has primarily concerned Sámi herders.

The petition - we're a little sceptical of how it was conducted - we noticed that you could post to the web version regardless of location. There was also some discussion locally of the validity of using municipality resources for such a petition - though I don't know what came of that issue.