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Vi har anlitats som sakkunniga av Talma sameby och dess juridiska ombud för att undersöka i vilken utsträckning andra intressenter än samerna bedrivit konkurrerande markanvändning inom samebyns nuvarande byområde ovan odlingsgränsen före 1750. Framför allt har vi undersökt markanvändning inom fastigheter som står under statens omedelbara disposition och idag förvaltas av Fastighetsverket eller Naturvårdsverket, eftersom det är dessa marker som omfattas av Talma samebys stämning av staten angående rätten att upplåta jakt- och fiskerättigheter.

Vi har gjort en noggrann genomgång av de historiska källor med relevans för målet som vi kunnat identifiera liksom av publicerad litteratur. Vi har registrerat och analyserat alla uppgifter om nybyggares och hemmansägares användning av jaktmarker, fiskevatten och slåtterängar samt om malmexploateringar inom Talma samebys nuvarande byområde ovan odlingsgränsen och ett vidare omland. Ingen har tidigare kartlagt den historiska markanvändningen inom detta område på en sådan detaljnivå.

Efter avslutad undersökning kan vi som sakkunniga konstatera att det inte finns belägg för att någon konkurrerande markanvändning förekommit inom det aktuella området förrän vid mitten av 1500-talet, då bönder från Tornedalen fiskade i två sjöar som samtidigt nyttjades av samerna.

De enda boställen som etablerades inom Talma samebys nuvarande byområde före 1750 fanns i Jukkasjärvi och hade samband med kyrkans och skolans verksamhet. De som var bosatta i Jukkasjärvi hade enstaka slåttermarker inom Talma samebys nuvarande byområde ovan odlingsgränsen. Detta hade även Vittangiborna, trots att Vittangi by ligger utanför Talma samebys nuvarande byområde.

När det gäller fiske är det belagt att prästbordet hade fiske i Sautusjärvi och Jukkasjärvi på 1600-talet. Det finns också en uppgift om att nybyggare från Jukkasjärvi kyrkby fiskade i den nedre änden av Torneträsk 1746, samt ytterligare några uppgifter om fiskevatten och slåttermarker som möjligen kan ha nyttjats före 1750.

Nästan alla de slåtterängar, fiskevatten och jaktmarker som nyttjades före 1750 ligger emellertid idag inom fastigheter som är privatägda eller hör till by- eller sockenallmänningar, varför de inte berörs av Talma samebys stämning av staten. Detta gäller även med beaktande av nybygget Kurravaara, som insynades 1751 utanför Talma samebys nuvarande byområde men vars innehavare hade viss verksamhet inom området.

Malmbrytning har i mindre utsträckning bedrivits inom Talma samebys nuvarande byområde ovan odlingsgränsen men har inte, såvitt vi kunnat utröna, berört jakt och fiske.

Vår samlade bedömning är att den konkurrerande markanvändningen före 1750 på marker som berörs av Talma samebys stämning av staten varit av obetydlig omfattning.Gudrun NorstedtLars Östlundnovember 2024

Toponyms containing the element rengård can be found in approximately 80 places in northern Sweden, mainly along the coast. The literal understanding of the word presents no difficulties, since ren means reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.) and gård some kind of enclosure or fence. But what kind of reindeer – wild or domesticated? And for what purpose was the device created?

In this paper, three different hypotheses are identified in published literature, analysed using GIS methods and discussed in relation to historical sources. The first hypothesis, that rengård refers to pit systems combined with fences installed for hunting wild reindeer, is rejected because of the lack of geographical correlation with registered hunting pits. The second hypothesis, that rengård refers to corrals for domesticated reindeer, is considered to be an unlikely explanation for toponyms in the coastland, i.e. the majority, due to the lack of examples in historical sources. The third hypothesis, that rengård refers to fences used by coastland farmers to hunt wild reindeer with snares, spears or arrows, is supported by both substantial geographical correspondence between the toponyms and the earliest known farming villages, and historical sources. The author concludes that in most cases, the rengård toponyms designate locations where fences were built by coastland farmers to hunt wild reindeer before the early 18th century.

Mires form a large part of the boreal Swedish landscape and are important for biodiversity and natural ecosystem processes. Historically, mires also played a key role for the expansion of agricultural practices, and later to create new forest land, but knowledge is limited on how the land use has affected the current ecosystem services and functions of mires. In this case study from northern Sweden, we have combined historical maps with remote-sensing data to analyze the use of mires over time. Here, 22% of the mire area has been used for hay harvesting, an activity that peaked in the late 1800s. Later, about 3% was reclaimed for intensive agriculture. Drainage to enhance wood production followed in the 1940s, and about 40% of the original mire area is currently forested. The most productive mires have been relatively more affected by human measures. We suggest that this past land use has legacy effects on several ecosystem services. Haymaking likely had positive effects on biodiversity, but may have negatively influenced carbon sequestration. Reclamation led to habitat loss and likely less carbon sequestration. Drainage to promote forest growth generally lowered the ground water level, which in turn enhanced peat decomposition and subsequently released CO₂. However, if tree growth outpaces peat decomposition, drainage could increase carbon sequestration. The overall carbon balance is hence influenced by past management regimes, which implies that past human use must be taken into account when considering the role of mires in providing ecosystem services.

The indigenous forest Sami of Lapland in northern Sweden were generally semi-sedentary until the early 20th century, moving between a number of seasonal settlements inside household territories. In the 1600s and the early 1700s, the subsistence pattern of the forest Sami seems to have been focused on fishing, and movements between settlements followed the spawning times of fish. During the 18th century, reindeer husbandry for milking and cheese making expanded greatly. Locations suitable for reindeer then became a dominant part of the settlement pattern, whereas fishing sites became less important. 

Although this notion of a shift from a fish-centred to a reindeer-centred subsistence pattern during the 18th century gives a general idea of the development of forest-Sami life in Sweden, it is much simplified. In this paper, resource use in a forest-Sami territory in the late 17th and early 18th centuries is studied in detail, using a number of different sources. A map is created, showing a hypothetical seasonal settlement pattern of an economy based primarily on fishing and hunting but in which small-scale reindeer husbandry also played a significant role. This is a way of approaching a deeper understanding of the dynamics of ancient forest-Sami ways of life and of facilitating discoveries of long-forgotten seasonal settlements.

In Swedish Lappland, large national parks and nature reserves include forests with exceptional biodiversity values. While they are located in the ancient cultural landscapes of the indigenous Sami, this aspect has rarely been considered in the process of nature protection. In this study, we discuss how the preservation of Sami cultural values can be introduced and developed in forest reserves. We do this by reviewing recent research on the cultural legacy that the Sami have left in the boreal forest and discuss why so much of this legacy is found in the large areas of ecologically valuable forest that still exist in Lappland. We find that the Sami left deep imprints in the trees, in the forest structure, and in the archaeological record. We also find that the large forest reserves were created in the areas where the timber frontier arrived last, so they were less affected by both early actions of recurrent logging and by modern forestry. These forest reserves contain the ancient trees, the dead wood, and the disturbance regimes that favor biodiversity, and also a substantial Sami cultural legacy that has largely disappeared in the managed forest landscape. The preservation of this legacy is not without its challenges. We address the lack of inventory data, the poor collaboration between different authorities, and the general lack of involvement of the Sami communities; furthermore, we propose measures to overcome these shortcomings. If such measures are introduced, the value of the large and unique forest reserves of Swedish Lappland would be greatly enriched. The cultural legacies in forest dominated landscapes in northern Scandinavia is comparable to many other very northern or very southern regions in that they share a similar history of millennia of indigenous land use, with abrupt changes in modern time and also have large protected areas today.

Airborne laser scanning (ALS) is increasingly being used to detect cultural remains in forest landscapes. Boreal forests are challenging, however, since most ancient land use was carried out without major permanent ground disturbances. If this challenge can be met, there is a large potential for surveys through existing nation-wide laser-scanning programs, although their resolutions tend to be low. In this study, we compare the performance of low-resolution (LR) and high-resolution (HR) ALS data in the Krycklan catchment in northern Sweden, an area where ancient land use was small-scale and diverse. About three times as many cultural remains were detected in the HR data set, but the LR set was satisfactory for distinct structures. We analyze how LR data sets can be enhanced at ground-point classification and terrain-model generation and conclude that ALS data have a large potential for the detection and protection of cultural remains in the boreal forest.