The project began as a standard research collaboration among the project partners but evolved during the COVID-19 period into a broader, cross-disciplinary-stakeholder effort involving a wide network. This shift gradually expanded the scope of collaboration beyond the original plan, incorporating diverse perspectives and forms of engagement. Many people contributed in meaningful ways to the project’s success, and we express our sincere gratitude to everyone who participated at different stages of the project. We also thank the many individuals who enriched the work by sharing their knowledge, materials, experiences, and perspectives, often spontaneously. While it is not possible to acknowledge every contributor individually, we gratefully recognize their collective contribution.
We are especially grateful to the citizens who participated in and supported the research. We thank veterinarian Ossi Kemppainen, a pioneer in the rescue of northern Finncattle, who shared previously undocumented aspects of his unofficial conservation work and granted access to his personal archives. We are also grateful to citizen assistant Ingrid Svarto for providing bone material for analysis, which offered valuable insights for the project. Our sincere thanks go to Ilmari Majuri, who generously shared his knowledge, experience, and archival materials on the revival of northern Finncattle and participated in project events with his cattle, Valkko and Oukan Noadi. We also thank Suvi Tiainen for providing outstanding photographs used in the project, as well as the nearly 200 participants who contributed images to the photo competition.
We further acknowledge the important contribution of individuals in various institutions who facilitated access to historical archives. We thank Norrbotten’s Museum, the Swedish National Archives in Östersund, the Archive of Popular Movements in Västerbotten, and Uppsala University Library for their support in providing access to Swedish archival sources. We are particularly grateful to Jaana Juvani, whose work on Finnish herd books, conducted as part of her thesis, provided an essential foundation for this project. We also thank Tampere University Library for their valuable interlibrary services.
We are grateful to our colleagues and collaborators whose expertise and support contributed in countless ways to the project. In particular, we thank Maria Sjöström for her highly professional coordination of project reporting.
Finally, we would like to thank the Interreg Nord Secretariat, the Regional Council of Lapland, and the Norrbotten Region for their financial and administrative support, and for their trust in the project from its early stages. Their encouragement and commitment were crucial to the project’s success.