The recent snowfall has, at least in the Kiruna area, increased the amount of snow.

But there are no hard ice crusts in the snow layers and dry fine snow on the ground.

With that, it is an optimal location for the reindeer.

- The snow came late and there is still not much snow, what I hear from the reindeer forest is that there is good grazing, says Helena Omma, chairman of Unna Tjerusj in Norrbotten.

And she gets the support of her colleagues further south.

- I have never been part of an autumn like this, now I understand that it can be this good.

It's fun to see how the reindeer are in good shape and healthy and strong.

I only wish that they would be left alone for the predators, then it would have been optimal, says Inger Helene Gråik, chairman of Jijnjevaerie sijte in Jämtland.

No applications for catastrophic damage protection

Last year, more than half of the country's 51 Sami villages applied for disaster damage protection.

That's because the bait then was extremely bad.

So far this winter, not a single application for disaster damage protection has come to the Sami Parliament.

Something similar has not happened in 15 years, according to Sören Långberg, the Sami Parliament's reindeer husbandry consultant.

Thanks to the good conditions, the reindeer have been able to graze in the mountains a month longer than usual in Jämtland.

Helene Gråik states that it has been optimal as the ground had time to freeze properly on the hill before the snow came.

There is a big difference compared to last year's disaster pictures of the icy ground in the reindeer grazing areas.

Is there a fear that it could turn around and become worse bait?

- There is always, as long as it is winter and we have seen in recent years that the springs can be very long.

Now the winter has been shortened by a month at one end, but we don't know what it will be like at the other end yet, thawing weather can come at any time.

But so far it's good and it's so funny that it can be like that sometimes, says Helena Omma.

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Here, Laara Gråik, reindeer herder in Jijnjevaerie Sami village, skis through waterlogged ski tracks during the disaster grazing winter of 2022. Photo: PRIVAT