Sapmi Boazu — A visit to the Sami Reindeer Husbandry Range of Finland

Jackie Hrabok, UAF's Northwest Campus assistant professor of High Latitude Range Management, hosted and led an international cultural exchange for the Alaska Reindeer Directors. Delegates were from Mekoryuk on Nunivak Island, the Kawerak Reindeer Herders Association and the Kawerak Environmental Department.

The goals of the two-week overseas experience Nov. 11-24, 2023, were to interact with the Indigenous Sami and learn about their livelihood as reindeer herders north of 69 degree latitude in Finland. They toured reindeer-specific facilities and had business meetings with key colleagues: commercial slaughterhouses and a tannery, Sami Education Institute Reindeer Husbandry and Applied Arts Departments, reindeer roundups, Kutuharju research herd, and the Finnish Reindeer Herders Association headquarters.

Delegates included Ed Kiokun, Nunivak Island Mekoryuk; Terry Don, CEO of Nunivak Island Mekoryuk; Nathan Baring, director of Kawerak Reindeer Herders Association; and Anahma Shannon, Director of Kawerak Environmental Department.

Delegates have returned home to Alaska with new ideas to increase workforce development, commercial meat sales, and value-added byproduct production, all stemming from the development of the Alaska reindeer industry.

If you want to learn more about Alaska's reindeer industry, check out Part III of Sun and Soil's podcast "Feeding the Last Frontier: A Reindeer Called Rhonda," which features Hrabok. She also lists several books that have excellent information on reindeer. Sun and Soil is produced by C.C. Clark and Noah Spickelmier. You can find it:

IG, FB, TikTok: @sunandsoilpodcast

YouTube: @sunandsoil

email: sunandsoilpodcast@gmail.com

website: sunandsoilpod.com