History of Lemmenjoki National Park

River valleys have been favoured places for settlements since the prehistoric times. Also at Lemmenjoki there are signs of human activities from hundreds of years ago. In the National Park area have been found about 700 pitfalls, which were used for hunting the Wild Forest Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus) until the 1800s. Njurkulahti Nature Trail goes past a group of pitfalls.

As the Wild Forest Reindeer were getting few in numbers, and the Sámi people with their reindeer moved to the area in the 1800s, became reindeer herding more common in Lemmenjoki River Valley. At the same time, the first permanent settlements appeared. In the village of Njurkulahti, the main source of livelihood today is still reindeer herding, in addition to tourism. This can be clearly seen in the village scene and in different constructions. Most of the National Park area belongs to Sallivaara Local Reindeer Herding Co-operative, which has about 7500 reindeer.

The first gold fever attracted diggers to Lemmenjoki already in the beginning of the last century. The actual gold rush, however, was after the war in 1940s, when at the best time there were more than hundred claims in the area. Mechanical gold digging was tried for the first time in the beginning of the 1950s. Today there are roughly as many diggers as during the gold rush, but the use of digging machines has changed the process. The marked trail from Ravadasjärvi via Jäkälä-äytsi to Kultahamina goes through claims of different ages.

Nowadays most of the people going to the park are hikers. Metsähallitus takes care of the constructions for hikers, guidance and supervision. The aim is to maintain the National Park as a wilderness-like conservation area also in the future.