In the boreal forests of northern Fennoscandia, reindeer have grazed for millennia among lichens and open woodlands shaped by fire and time—but this ancient rhythm is collapsing under the weight of industrial forestry. Over the past 70 years, about 90% of these forests have been managed through rotation forestry, a system designed to maximize wood production that has instead created dense, young stands where the ground lichens that reindeer depend on cannot grow. The consequence is stark: lichen-abundant forests have declined by 71% in the last six decades, and the Sámi Indigenous communities whose livelihoods and cultural identity are built on reindeer pastoralism are now forced to intensify their work and resort to emergency grain-based feeding in corrals to keep their herds alive.
This is not a conflict between conservation and commerce that requires choosing one at the expense of the other. Rather, as new research demonstrates, restoring forests in ways that support reindeer herds can simultaneously serve EU nature restoration targets, store more carbon in old forests, and revitalize the livelihoods and cultural practices of Sámi reindeer-herding communities. The reindeer—Rangifer tarandus tarandus—evolved in conjunction with the natural dynamics of boreal forest ecosystems, and their survival is inseparable from the health of these ancient woodlands.
The path forward centers on forest restoration that deliberately opens dense stands. High-intensity thinning of trees can recreate the light-rich conditions that lichens need to flourish. Removing logging residues like twigs and branches further supports lichen growth. Prescribed burning to deplete nutrients, followed by manual lichen transplantation, can restore entire lichen-rich, open forests. The removal of dense non-native lodgepole pine stands—which block both grazing and movement of reindeer herds—is equally critical. These restoration efforts can be rolled out across managed forests while still maintaining some level of wood production, creating a middle path that serves multiple interests.
Alongside active restoration, conservation schemes must protect and connect fragmented lichen-rich areas. These old, natural forests support far greater biodiversity than managed forests and store significantly more carbon. Yet these conservation efforts must remain flexible enough to allow continued use by Sámi herders, whose Indigenous and customary rights to these lands predate industrial forestry by centuries.
The stakes extend beyond reindeer. Climate change is already compounding the crisis, with increased rainfall on snow creating ice formations that prevent reindeer from accessing the remaining ground lichens. Without intervention, this situation will deteriorate further. But EU-wide initiatives—including the legally binding nature restoration law and regulations on land use and forestry that include carbon-removal targets—now create an unprecedented opportunity to align economic, ecological, and cultural goals.
For economists and conservationists locked in debate over production versus preservation, the overlooked answer lies with the reindeer and the Sámi herders who understand these forests most intimately. Working in tandem with reindeer-herding communities, northern Fennoscandia's forests can be restored in ways that deliver multiple benefits: revitalized herds, thriving Sámi livelihoods, carbon storage, and restored biodiversity. The question is no longer whether forests can serve all these purposes. It is whether policymakers will listen to the communities who have always known they could.