Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

In northern Sweden, Sámi reindeer husbandry depends on large, connected, and seasonally variable grazing landscapes, while forestry planning is often organized through stand-based operations, production timelines, and fragmented ownership structures. Consultation (samråd) is intended to address interactions between forestry and reindeer husbandry, yet less attention has been paid to the preparatory planning procedures through which consultation cases are assembled, coordinated, and carried through forestry planning systems. This study examines how forestry representatives in Sweden organize consultation-related planning and what these practices reveal about the interpretation, translation, and use of reindeer husbandry knowledge within forest planning.

The study uses a qualitative research design based on eight semi-structured interviews with forestry and agency representatives involved in consultation preparation, planning, coordination, or advisory support, supplemented by document analysis. The thematic analysis examined planning routines, distributions of responsibility, use of GIS-based tools, interpretations of reindeer husbandry knowledge, and approaches to landscape-scale and cumulative impacts.

The findings show that consultation-related planning varied across institutional contexts, including centralized coordination, planner-led preparation, decentralized case-by-case preparation, and coordination- or support-based roles. Across these models, reindeer husbandry knowledge became most actionable when connected to mapped overlaps, repeated dialogue, field familiarity, previous agreements, or concrete operational adjustments. Broader concerns related to cumulative disturbance, seasonal grazing continuity, and landscape functionality were recognized but harder to retain within object-based forestry systems. The findings also show that maps and digital tools raise questions of knowledge control, while fragmented responsibility affects whether consultation outcomes are carried forward into operational planning.

By shifting attention from consultation as a formal meeting toward the planning procedures surrounding consultation, this study shows that the central challenge is not simply a lack of information, but how reindeer husbandry knowledge is translated, interpreted, governed, and acted upon within forestry systems. The findings suggest that improving consultation-related planning requires stronger procedural continuity, knowledge-accountable information-sharing, and mechanisms capable of addressing landscape-scale impacts before object-level forestry decisions become fixed.