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2.2.4 Strategy: Avoid and mitigate disasters by regulating the size of reindeer herds and managing the use of pastures

Pastures are divided into winter, spring and summer pastures depending on food quality and snow conditions. Winter pastures are normally in forests or near forests where the snow is less deep and reindeer can more easily find food. Spring pastures should be richer�reindeer calve in the spring and thus need high nutrient feed and have to stay at one place for a relatively long period of time. Summer pastures are located in open, breezy places, often near the coast, because the summer disaster for reindeer is the mosquito. If mosquitoes are very numerous, reindeer are unable to feed properly. A reindeer herd cannot stay in one place for a long time because of the risk of over-grazing.

Herds of several thousands reindeer can pasture on the vast territories of flat tundra in Nenets Autonomous Okrug, while in Kamchatka, the Koryak and the Even people pasture their reindeer in winter in the Sredinny Mountains. They only herd their reindeer to the sea coast in the summer, as there is too much snow on the coast in winter.

Before the collectivization during the Soviet period, herds were rather small, up to 100-200 reindeer in each herd. However, during the collectivization period, people in Kamchatka kolkhozes began to pasture big herds without considering local natural features, and reindeer herders had to drive the reindeer herds into the mountains. From interviews, it was evident that a big loss of reindeer and people occurred during the collectivization period because of snow slides in the mountains. Several old reindeer herders described such cases.

 An Even man from Esso (Kamchatka) explained, �Any herder must know a pasture well. When he comes to a new place, he must survey it to know where the things are and how they are arranged. Experienced reindeer herders know what food is available, what sort of reindeer lichen. In the Soviet times there were cases when reindeer herders died �not their fault but the managers. They would change routes, make long hauls, and the bad weather came. Nowadays, herders are more or less independent. They make decisions themselves. In the past route was important; if managers decided to change it, one had to obey. Even if he knew it was dangerous, he would follow it because he was told to do that�.  A Chukchi man, a former reindeer herder from Esso (Kamchatka), said, �The reindeer moss restores itself very slowly. Each of our teams has three pastures; one year we're here, the next year there and the third year we're on the third pasture. The Soviet power has spoiled many pastures. I had huge herds at that time, 14 thousand head instead of 7 thousand. You go with such a herd once, they trample down everything. Now these pastures are dead; it'll take them about 15 more years to be restored. Such herds were kept to deliver as much meat as possible�. 

A Koryak man from Palana (Kamchatka) advised, �Before the blizzard it makes sense to pasture reindeers far away from chum (traditional huts) on good pastures, but during the blizzard you should pasture reindeers close to the chum. It is safe for both reindeer herders and reindeer�.