Tuomas Siilasjoki and Minna Näkkäläjärvi say they were taken by surprise when a mobile drill rig one day appeared in the horizon. Nobody had asked them about exploring for minerals inside their siida, a reindeer foraging area, in northern Finland.

The grazing crisis in reindeer herding, the corona situation and the work on the Norwegian-Swedish Reindeer Grazing Convention was the theme of the meeting between Minister of Agriculture and Food Olaug Vervik Bollestad (KrF) and Sami Parliament President Aili Keskitalo.

In Karasjok and Kautokeino, there has been greater snowfall than usual on winter pastures. The difficulty in digging down to pasture is effecting reindeer in large parts of Troms and Finnmark.

Icy conditions in the mountains have caused wild reindeer to descend towards the hut areas to find food. In several places ski areas are now closed to prevent the reindeer from being disturbed.