November and beginning of winter is here. Thunder Bay Summit is a success that establishes a new mechanism “Living Peatlands”, meanwhile conservation of large landscape level sites such as Salmisuo in Finnish Sub-Arctic and the whitefish seining start to bring the season to a close. A new science paper documents success with Indigenous management of Atlantic Salmon.

October began with the largest Snowchange event of the year – The Living Peatlands Summit in Thunder Bay, Canada. This event brought together dozens of delegates from the Sámi, Finnish communities, Pacific Islanders, Maori, Indigenous Canadian delegates, Alaskan scientists, a large peatland conservation community from Minnesota, Native Hawaiians, and many more. The Summit created a network sponsored by the Climate Breakthrough Initiative – the Living Peatlands Initiative. See a new portal here. The summit represents a major conservation and restoration event to simultaneously rescue peatlands and wetlands (in the Pacific). Further results can be seen on the portal, and here in coming months. Thunder Bay was a major turning point for the Snowchange for the next decade ahead on simultaneous action on community-led conservation.

In Finland over 500 hectares of new peatlands and forests joined Snowchange in October. On top of that the restoration efforts continued in full swing including the cleaning and re-juvenation of the whitefish spawning sites along the river Koitajoki in North Karelia. Out of the landscapes emergent in October Salmisuo, a sub-Arctic mainly intact peatland of 150 hectares in Pudasjärvi constitutes a major turn in this part of the boreal part of Finland. It is a major nesting and resting area of geese and also very important for the local community.

Sea Sámi scholar Camilla Brattland has led efforts to scientifically assess success in Atlantic Salmon management. This has led to a Snowchange-participating science paper “From Participation to Indigenous Leadership in Salmon Governance and Knowledge Systems” published in late October in Arctic Anthropology.

Indigenous leadership in salmon governance is associated with values and principles such as recognition of Indigenous rights and jurisdictions by states, meaningful involvement and participation of Indigenous knowledge holders in the knowledge basis for management, and respectful and reciprocal relations between humans and salmon. Inspired by examples of Indigenous leadership in salmon governance in North America and in Finland, the authors of this chapter seek to identify a constructive role for Sami leadership in Nordic state wild salmon governance. Even though the Nordic countries, in principle, recognize Indigenous resource rights, there are few examples of Indigenous leadership in watershed governance.

An especially thorny issue is the cross‐border salmon management on the Deatnu/Tana River as a border river between Norway and Finland. A nearby example of Skolt Sami leadership in co-management of the Njâuddam/Näätämö River in Finland is, however, a relevant and hopeful example of the possibility of Sami leadership and inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in salmon governance and river restoration. In this article, we present the Njâuddam/Näätämö and the Deatnu watershed governance arrangements as two examples at opposite ends of a scale of Indigenous leadership in salmon management in the Nordic countries. We compare and discuss the two cases along the dimensions of participation in governance and in knowledge production, addressing key points that need to be resolved for Indigenous leadership to play a constructive role in interaction with state salmon governance and knowledge production systems. In conclusion, we consider the possible lessons to be learned and discuss challenges and opportunities for Indigenous empowerment and for increasing the sustainability of salmon governance at large.

Paper available here.

Living Peatlands Gathering in Thunder Bay, Ontario, October 3 to 5, 2026 brings delegates from the South Pacific, Aotearoa, Canada, Finland, Alaska, the UK, California and other geographies to gather and discuss the urgency of protection and restoration of peatlands as a part of the Snowchange Climate Breakthrough Initiative.

We’ll learn about important methods and approaches to peatland and wetland conservation and restoration from across the Living Peatlands Initiative network. We hope to not only learn from each other, but also to identify ways to deepen coordination to support healthy peatlands and wetlands across the circumpolar region and worldwide.

In 2024, Snowchange Cooperative received a Climate Breakthrough Initiative Award to expand on its successful peatland restoration work in Finland through a circumpolar and circumboreal network. 

This network connects local efforts and action to conserve and restore peatlands by supporting the work of hubs in Canada, northern MN, northern Europe, and the Pacific. By linking these hubs, Snowchange aims to foster knowledge sharing, strengthen Indigenous and local governance, and protect and restore peatlands to preserve or renew their healthy ecosystem function.

In 2025, the first Living Peatland hubs in northern MN (Sax Zim Bog) and northern Canada (Gwich’in settlement area) were announced and an exchange visit was held in Finland, where representatives from North America learned about Snowchange’s approach to peatland restoration. 

In 2026, we have been broadening connections, developing a website and communication campaign, and deepening discussions in anticipation of the gathering in Thunder Bay.

We will report the results from the gathering in October and look forwards to all delegations to Thunder Bay!

September brings major international events, restoration season draws towards its end, and new book on pastoralism. Fisheries continue with traps and traditional dip netting.

Autumn is here and in fisheries traps are in lake Onkamo and later towards October cleaning of spawning sites of endangered whitefish will continue on Koitajoki river. We will participate in the Low Impact Fishers of Europe summit in Rome in early September, where Captain Karoliina will lead efforts to convey messages from northern freshwater harvests and culture. We also participated in August in river Tornio on the cultural fishery of dip netting at Kukkolankoski which has been recognized in recent years as a cultural heritage. This was the site of the 2018 Festival of Northern Fishing Traditions.

In rewilding and restoration August and early September are devoted to the continued work on Koitajoki and Arctic Circle peatlands. Possoli canyon from Salla, Eastern Lapland marks a major ecological corridor close to the national park at the borderlands as a new site. Also in Salla, a major peatland restoration effort will commence in Autumn in the Koutelo river catchment. New sites will be added in the Autumn.

Pacific Tour will commence in early September 2026. Delegations will catch up with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – IPCC events in Sri Lanka, then visits to the restoration sites in Aotearoa, New Zealand will follow, and onwards to Pacific sites on the western coast and areas of Canada. The tour will culminate in late September and early October in a large workshop in Canada on questions of Circumpolar simultaneous peatlands work and Pacific wetlands restoration. More on that later in September.

In other international news, a new book with Snowchange nomadic case study has been released, titled “Pastoralist Voices from the Territories: Stories of Governance, Care, and Resilience“. Pastoralists speak directly about their relationships with land, water, animals and community. These stories illuminate the governance systems, cultural practices and everyday acts of care through which pastoral communities sustain their territories. Together, they reveal both the resilience of pastoral ways of life and the pressures communities face from land conversion, climate change, insecure tenure and exclusionary policies. The whole book can be downloaded here.

A new documentary highlights the impact of Pamilo hydropower station to lake Koitere and other water bodies, land locked salmon and local communities in Koitajoki.

This documentary contains materials of community-based observations of hydropower impacts and ecological change in Koitajoki catchment, North Karelia. It is the home of a large Snowchange restoration project funded by Endangered Landscapes and Seascapes Programme.

Impacts have accumulated since 1950s, including the loss of the migratory routes and habitat for the unique land locked salmon. A new restoration plan has been developed to address some of the issues.

You can see the film here.

August brings late summer restoration and forest actions to view, fisheries are beginning, Le Monde covers Snowchange rewilding actions in the Eastern Finland and Lapland. Several international events mark the Autumn.

Rewilding and restoration has proceeded in summer. Highlights of the season include the arrival of Paanneoja Sámi OGF forest and ecological corridor up in Muotkatunturi Wilderness Area, Inari, of 100 hectares and several kilometers. Most of the sites focused in June and July into Arctic Circle peatlands and forests.

In Kemijärvi, Karvakkoselkä 70 hectare topographically important spring-fed peatland and forest system supports existing Snowchange sites in close vicinity. In Salla, Vilmajoki ecological corridor is an important old growth forest and flood plain. Joukahaisoja, as a part of the wider lake Unari catchment work in Sodankylä can be assessed to be a rather completely intact trout river in North Boreal. It can be considered a pearl of boreal ecosystems.

Most important of the summer restoration and rewilding actions continued in Salla and Eastern Lapland. Hand restoration in Kotala, Latoaukia and Orahaara provided for the first modern catchment and peatland restoration actions on these sites, and planning and scoping of Koutelo River catchment restoration continued with expansion of 50 hectares of Pahajoenjänkä and digger restoration expected either late in 2026 or 2027. This peatland has fully intact old growth forest islands supporting outstanding boreal biodiversity. In other regions, planning and licensing for major post-peat mining sites in Ranua and river restoration continued and the Koitajoki restoration proceeded at a rapid pace.

International media visited through the season – a major German magazine will cover Sámi forest work later in the year. Le Monde, prominent French newspaper wrote about our peatland work and this is available here. Autumn is expected to be busy with several IPCC and UN events, Snowchange workshops on boreal peatland restoration and Pacific work.