It's the end of May in Inari, and the ice hasn't quite disappeared. The average annual（年度的） temperature here isn't much above freezing point. In Europe's far north, primeval（原始的） forests still exist. The trees are small, gnarled and supple（柔软的）. Petri Matus is on his way through this old growth forest. If it weren't for him, these trees would have been cleared many years ago.

  Lumber（<美>木材） companies had their eye on them back before the first big protest action in Inari. This is what a healthy forest here looks like, with reindeer（[脊椎][畜牧] 驯鹿） calves（[解剖] 腓肠） roaming（ 漫游） about. Reindeer mothers spend their last two weeks in enclosed areas before giving birth. A couple just born（承担） in the yesterday evening, I earmark at those, like there is one. So I catch those and put my earmark on. Then I open that gate and they go back to the freedom（自由）.

  Petri Matus likes that his animals have an appetite（食欲） for freedom（自由）. They develop better, and don't cost him much. He's grateful to the forest that sustains（支撑） his animals. This is about the end of the day. I'm going to go back to the forest and see what happens. This is about 12 hours old.

  They're not very old. Every family of reindeer herders has its own distinctive（有特色的） earmarker. The procedure（程序） doesn't appear entirely（完全地） painless. The mom is coming over there. It's recognized the old babies out, and it's amazing when you listen those everything is same, but they recognize old babies. And as you see, there is not coming blood.

  Only sometimes maybe a little bit if they're doing like this. So you don't think it hurts them very much? No, I don't think so, because it's not like ladies they put the earrings in. Old growth forests are woodlands that have not been significantly（意味深长地） disturbed（打扰） by human activity. And these could be left untouched（ 未触动过的）. After all, there's enough timber（木材） elsewhere（在别处） in Northern Europe.

  The lichen（地衣） hanging on the branches serves a special function. What's felt here takes a very long time to grow back. As you see, all trees, this is maybe four or five hundred years old. There's this black lichen on the trees. What radio can eat in the winter. It's not only the trees, because when it's windy, a lot of snow on the trees.

  As you'll see, there's black lichen also on the land, and it's coming top of the snow, and radio can eat this. If there's a lot of snow, snow is hard. Without this forest, the reindeer would struggle（ 努力） to get through the winter. Luckily, the herders have received international help. Greenpeace come here and help us, and they told the biggest company who buy the Finnish（芬兰的） paper and the Sami people and the Sami reindeer（[脊椎][畜牧] 驯鹿） herders, they have a problem with this forest cutting（剪枝）, because the old forest is very important. In Finland, authorities were ignoring Petri Matos and his fellow（同伴的） herders.

  Then Greenpeace raised the possibility of a boycott. That was back in 2003. A large cargo（船货） ship had been docking（ 剪短） each week in the northern German city of Lübeck with timber（木材） from Finland's vast forests. Its cargo turned out to have come from some of Europe's last remaining primeval forests. The supply chain could be traced（痕迹） back to Inari. This timber was destined（ 指定） to be turned into toilet paper or glossy（平滑的） magazines in Germany.

  In Inari, a small delegation（代表团） of traditional reindeer（[脊椎][畜牧] 驯鹿） herders was waiting to show evidence of fresh felling. They didn't need to go far. This tree was a few hundred years old, as far as Uti-Yescu could tell from the rings without using a magnifying glass. That's how close the rings were together. The State Forestry（林业） Authority has promised to protect certain areas, but they are felling trees elsewhere. As a result, the forest is disappearing.

  The indigenous（本土的） Sami are known to be rather reserved, and not just in front of the camera. But this was the last straw. At five on Friday, the sounds of logging（ 记录） no longer rang out in the ancient forest. Getting hold（把握） of footage（电影片段） of loggers（樵夫） at work wasn't easy. This is Uti-Yescu 20 years later in the same forest that was due to be cut down. For many years now, she's been teaching young people how to look after reindeer, and she has six grandchildren of her own.

  The forest, as it was inherited（继承(传统等)） from our ancestors（祖宗）, it's our inheritance（继承）, even if the land is owned by the State, and well, it's home, who would sell this home for money? As she talks, she slips（滑动） into her role as grandmother. I was just going to say that one thing I would be doing in a forest like this without something work to do would be to play with my grandchildren. So look, there's a hole in that tree. There must be a bird in it to them. And look how big that tree is.

  Can you reach your hands round it? Look, who lives in that hole under that tree? For the Sami, the forest is a door to the natural world, and a look back into their past. Do you know it was for your grand（宏伟的）-grand（宏伟的）-grandfather who cut this tree? In this archival footage, Kalevi Padar shows the way to a spot where the first snow had covered the signs of fresh felling. Ten years earlier, the state-owned forestry company had cut down a few trees here but left many standing（持续）.

  They didn't even tell us beforehand（事先）. They just sent in a forest harvester（收割机）. The remains（遗迹） will be cleared with fires. There won't be anything left for reindeer here for dozens（一打） of years. The winter in Lapland, or 'Sapmi' as it's called by the indigenous Sami people, starts at the end of September. That's when things start to get tough（坚韧的） for the reindeer（[脊椎][畜牧] 驯鹿） that roam（ 漫游） free here.

  Finding food is a struggle. Twenty years later, there's been no further logging here, and the European Union is keeping a watchful（注意的） eye that it stays that way. For Sami reindeer herder, Kalevi Padar, that remains a triumph（胜利）, but not one that he boasts（自夸） about. The Sami often face defeat（失败的事实） in their conflicts（争论） with the authorities. Back then, their cause was helped by the fact that major German publishers began refusing to buy timber from the ancient forests here.