A Sacred Tree in the Boreal forest: A Narrative About a Sami Shaman, her Tree, and the Forest Landscape

Since the early nineteenth century, forest landscapes and socio-economic contexts have significantly changed in northernmost Sweden. These processes include agrarian colonisation, the Christianisation of the indigenous Sami people, and the transfer of land tenure. We aim to analyse how Sami religious practice manifested itself in a time of dramatic social transition in northern Sweden by focussing on the life and religious practice of a Sami woman known as the shaman Guoksik-gummo, 'the Lady of the Siberian Jay.' We analyse a range of historical records and one specific sacred tree related to her to understand this period better and illuminate the changes in land-use religious practice and landscape transformation between the early nineteenth century and the early twenty-first century. We conclude that better documentation, more vital protection by law of Sami cultural traces in northern landscapes, and better consultation with Sami are needed in the future

The origins of prescribed burning in Scandinavian forestry: the seminal role of Joel Wretlind in the management of fire-dependent forests

In Sweden, prescribed burning was trialed as early as the 1890s for forest regeneration purposes. However, the origins of prescribed burning in Sweden are commonly attributed to Joel Efraim Wretlind, forest manager in the State Forest district of Mala, Vasterbotten County, from 1920 to 1952. To more fully understand the role he played in the development of prescribed burning and the extent of his burning, we examined historical records from the State Forest Company's archive and Wretlind's personal archive. The data showed that at least 11,208 ha was burned through prescribed burning between 1921 and 1970, representing 18.7% of the Mala state-owned forest area. Wretlind thus created a new forestry-driven fire regime, reaching, during peak years, extents close to historical fire regimes before the fire suppression era, and much higher than present-day burning. His use of prescribed fire to regenerate forests served as a guide for many other forest managers, spreading to all of northern Sweden during the 1950-1960s. Our analysis of Wretlind's latest accounts also shows how he stood against the evolutions of modern forestry to defend a forestry system based on the reproduction of natural processes, such as fire

Continuity forest or second-generation forest? Historic aerial photos provide evidence of early clear-cutting in northern Sweden

Modern forestry, which mainly consists of clear-cutting, is one of the most important factors influencing today's boreal forests. In Sweden, the breaking point for modern forestry is generally considered to be around 1950. Recently, our common knowledge of the implementation of clear-cutting in Sweden has increased, and new research indicates that clear-cutting systems were already applied before the 1950s. In this case study, we used aerial photographs from the 1940s to analyze the extent of contemporaneous clear-cuts and even-aged young forests in an area in northern Sweden. Our results show that almost 40% of the study area had already been clear-cut by the end of the 1940s, but also that clear-cutting had been applied to 10% of the forest land in the early 1900s. This implies that the historical development of forestry in northern Sweden is more complex than previously thought, and that certain proportions of the forest land were already second-generation forests in the 1950s. Our results have implications for the use of concepts such as "continuity forest", suggesting that this concept should employ a time frame of at least 100 years

Quantifying Sami Settlement and Movement Patterns in Northern Sweden 1700–1900

The indigenous Sami people of northernmost Europe have developed unique adaptations that enable them to cope with harsh climate and subsist in low-productivity ecosystems. These adaptations have been shaped by both internal factors, such as demographic and traditional land-use systems, and external factors, such as colonization and national legislation. In this paper we interpret the quantitative impacts of land use by reindeer herders in a subarctic forest landscape in northern Sweden during the 18th and 19th centuries. We used archival sources (cameral and judicial documents and church records) together with environmental data to reconstruct past changes in population size and the spatial configuration of traditional Sami lands, which the Swedish state accepted and recognized as taxation units for several centuries up to the 19th century. The taxation lands encompassed several hundred square kilometres and featured distinct proportions of different vegetation types. We propose that these taxation lands were originally established so that each provided sufficient resources to support the subsistence of a Sami family, incorporating pastures for small-scale reindeer herding and opportunities for hunting and fishing within its borders. However, there were substantial differences in the resources they provided. Estimates of population density indicate that they may have been able to support 0.04–0.06 persons per km2. Unlike many other indigenous groups around the globe, the Sami interacted with the state and claimed their rights in court proceedings and were thus able to maintain strong recognition of their land tenure by the Swedish state until the late 19th century.Key words: northern Sweden, forest history, archaeology, archival sources, Sami, population changes, reindeer pastoralism, taxation lands, mountain birch, Scots pineLe peuple indigène des Samis de l’Extrême-Nord de l’Europe s’est adapté de manières uniques afin de faire face au climat difficile et de subsister dans des écosystèmes à faible productivité. Ces adaptations ont été façonnées à la fois par des facteurs internes tels que la composition démographique et les systèmes traditionnels d’utilisation de la terre, ainsi que par des facteurs externes tels que la colonisation et l’adoption de lois nationales. Dans le présent document, nous interprétons les incidences quantitatives de l’utilisation des terres par les pasteurs de rennes dans un paysage forestier subarctique situé dans le nord de la Suède aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles. Nous nous sommes appuyés sur des sources archivées (documents caméraux et judiciaires ainsi que dossiers d’église) de même que sur des données environnementales pour identifier les anciennes variations de population et la configuration spatiale des terres traditionnelles des Samis, que l’État de la Suède a accepté et reconnu en tant que taxeurs pendant plusieurs siècles jusqu’au XIXe siècle. Les terres faisant l’objet d’une taxation s’étendaient sur plusieurs centaines de kilomètres carrés et englobaient des proportions distinctes de types de végétation différents. Nous laissons entendre que ces terres de taxation avaient été établies à l’origine pour que chaque terre fournisse des ressources suffisantes pour favoriser la subsistance d’une famille de Samis, intégrant ainsi des pâturages pour l’élevage des rennes à petite échelle et des possibilités de chasse et pêche à l’intérieur de ses frontières. Cependant, les ressources offertes par chaque terre variaient beaucoup d’une terre à l’autre. Les estimations en matière de densité de population indiquent que les terres auraient pu faire vivre de 0,04 à 0,06 personne par kilomètre carré. Contrairement à bien d’autres groupes indigènes du monde entier, les Samis ont négocié avec l’État et réclamé leurs droits devant le tribunal, ce qui leur a valu de maintenir une bonne reconnaissance de leur occupation foncière par l’État suédois jusque vers la fin du XIXe siècle

Exploring Pre-Colonial Resource Control of Individual Sami Households

In order to understand the use and control of resources by indigenous households and bands, information on territorial division is crucial. However, although indigenous resource use has been quantified in several studies, such information has usually been lacking. A unique map provides this kind of information for the Swedish Sami. Drawn by Jonas Persson Gedda in 1671, before the Swedish state started to interfere with Sami territorial division, it shows the borders of 37 household territories. We have combined the geographical information from Gedda’s map with historical sources and modern land survey data to quantify the resources controlled by each household and relate them to taxation. Three crucial resources are identified: alpine heath together with subalpine birch forest, pine-dominated forests, and fishing waters. Only the fishing resource showed any correlation to taxation, which underlines its importance as the main subsistence mode, at least for the forest Sami. Mountain Sami, who lived primarily on reindeer husbandry, controlled abundant alpine heath and subalpine birch forests that were used as summer pastures, but virtually no pine-dominated forests with winter pastures. The necessary winterpastures were located in the territories of the forest Sami, who controlled extensive pine-dominated forests and who were able to combine reindeer herding and wild reindeer hunting.Pour comprendre l’utilisation et la gestion des ressources des groupes de peuples indigènes, il est essentiel de disposer d’informations sur la division territoriale. Cependant, si l’utilisation des ressources des peuples indigènes a fait l’objet de plusieurs analyses quantitatives, les informations sur la division territoriale font le plus souvent défaut. Pour les Samis de Suède, une carte unique fournit ce genre d’information. Établie par Jonas Persson Gedda en 1671, avant que l’État suédois n’ait commencé à intervenir dans la division territoriale des Samis, la carte montre les limites de 37 territoires familiaux. Nous avons allié les informations géographiques de la carte de Gedda à des sources historiques et à des données topographiques modernes pour quantifier les ressources contrôlées par chaque famille et les lier au système de taxation. Trois ressources naturelles fondamentales ont ainsi été identifiées : les landes alpines avec les forêts subalpines de bouleau, les pinèdes et les pêcheries. Il appert que seules les pêcheries étaient corrélées au système de taxation, ce qui souligne leur importance en tant que mode de subsistance, pour les Samis de la forêt à tout le moins. Les Samis des montagnes, qui vivaient surtout de l’élevage des rennes, contrôlaient les landes alpines et les forêts subalpines de bouleau abondantes qui étaient utilisées comme pâturages estivaux, mais pratiquement pas de pinèdes offrant des pâturages hivernaux. Les pâturages nécessaires se trouvaient chez les Samis de la forêt, qui contrôlaient de vastes pinèdes et savaient combiner tant l’élevage des rennes que la chasse aux rennes sauvages

Women in forestry in the early twentieth century - new opportunities for young women to work and gain their freedom in a traditional agrarian society

Logging and forestry have traditionally been seen as a purely masculine sphere. The aim of this study is to analyze women's introduction into and situations in the forestry sector in twentieth century northern Sweden. We interviewed 30 women who worked as cooks between the 1930s and the 1960s, and examined written sources. We found that driving forces behind the emergence of a system involving forestry cooks included state investigations, rationalization of the forest sector, the effects of WW2, and overall modernization of society. Our informants were unmarried and young when they started working, and their introductions to the job were characterized by encouragement and pressure in their surroundings. They had prior knowledge of cooking, but few underwent formal training. They were, in most cases, hired by the forest workers, and portray the camps as egalitarian social systems. It is clear that the Swedish system was rather unusual internationally, and these women had a definite impact on modernizing a workspace far from cities and industries. For the women, the job entailed hardships, but also a sense of freedom. Conceivably, a seed of women's liberation in twentieth century Sweden was planted by these thousands of young women working in the northern forests

Culturally modified trees and forest structure at a Kawesqar ancient settlement at Rio Batchelor, western Patagonia

Indigenous land use occurring on temporal scales over centuries or millennia shapes forests in specific ways and influences the dynamics of forest ecosystems. It is challenging to study such land use, but analysis of "culturally modified trees" (CMTs) can give precise spatial and temporal information on past land use by indigenous people. The aim of this study was to increase our knowledge of indigenous use of land and resources in Nothofagus forests by identifying CMTs and analyzing the forest structure dynamics in an ancient Kawesqar settlement site in western Patagonia. Our results show that there are CMTs at Rio Batchelor and that the forest structure varies significantly within the site, indicating that Kawesqar people altered the forest by extracting various resources. We conclude that CMT studies have great potential in Nothofagus forests in southernmost America, but also face specific challenges due to environmental conditions and lack of corroborating historical information

Reporte del hallazgo de árboles culturalmente modificados en bosques costeros de Nothofagus Betuloides (Mirb.) Oerst 1871 (Nothofagaceae) por pueblos canoeros de la Patagonia austral y Tierra del Fuego

Los bosques templados costeros pluviales de la Patagonia austral y Tierra del Fuego cons- tituyen una expresión florística y ecológica de características propias y muy distintas al resto de las formaciones vegetales del continente americano (Pisano, 1997). Aquellos de carác- ter “primario” o en estados sucesionales avan- zados son actualmente remanentes escasos de los procesos antrópicos de degradación ambiental relacionados a la extracción y explo- tación de recursos naturales, que sobreviven gracias a su aislamiento de caminos o rutas de explotación, o bien, por su resguardo geográ- fico a eventos climáticos de gran envergadura (i.e. volteo masivo por temporales de viento) (Pisano, 1997; Promis, Cruz, Reif &Gärtner, 2008). Conservan en su estructura información de enorme y singular valor ecológico, siendo testigos vivos de procesos ambientales y paleoclimáticos, estrechamente ligados a las dinámicas históricas del paisaje litoral de los canales patagónicos (Holz, Haberle, Veblen, De Pol Holz, Southon, 2012; Koch & Kilian, 2002; Villagrán, 2018)but rarely on both. In this study of fire history in western Patagonia (47-48° S. A su vez, es de esperar, que dichas dinámicas podrían comprender en parte o en su totali- dad, una historia estrechamente ligada al ser humano, al menos desde el retroceso glacial y posterior ocupación de los canales patagó- nicos por cazadores recolectores marinos o pueblos canoeros (Emperaire, 1955)