The hydrocarbon development boom started in the mid-1960s. Again forests were cut down around Surgut and Samotlor in the Khanty-Mansiyskii Autonomous Okrug, where the largest oil deposits were located, polluting rivers and bogs, devastating the land for the indigenous peoples. The exploitation of energy resources caused an enormous loss of land and water resources. Similar to the Alaskan pipeline, railways and pipelines cut off reindeer migration routes, which had a significant impact on the natives. The wild reindeer population has been increasing in recent decades, but the hunting trade is still vulnerable to any kind of environmental disruption.
Winter shipping on rivers, especially, causes shifting migration routes.
The shortage of transportation facilities in the region makes solving this problem difficult. There is no legal protection for most pasture-lands, although the government has expressed its intention to support land use by indigenous peoples. Such measures have had certain benefits in industrialization, but they have accelerated the decline of indigenous cultures. Mining activities have created severe pollution problems in the vicinity of mines and smelting works. Nickel plants on the Kola Peninsula and the Noril'sk industrial area in the lower Yenisei valley are the most typical examples.