Nationalparks Junkerdal

Norway´s National Parks are regulated by the laws of nature. Nature decides both how and when to do things. National Parks are established in order to protect large natural areas - from the coast to the mountains. This is done for our sake, for generations to come and for the benefit of nature itself.

JUNKERDAL NATIONAL PARK

County: Nordland

Established: 2004

Size: 682 km2

A spirited area

In Junkerdal National Park it is not just the animals and plants that are alive, but also the mountains. Sami culture and tradition has left behind a wealth of traces and stories linked to the region. In old Sami culture, plants, animals and places all possessed souls and had considerable significance for day-to-day life.

The landscape in Junkerdal National Park provides an environment for an extremely diverse flora with a great many rare plants. The entire area is important for understanding the migration and distribution of plants and animals following the last ice age.

For body and soul

Together with adjacent mountain regions in Norway and Sweden, Junkerdal National Park is one of the largest remaining wilderness areas in the Nordic region, giving you the opportunity to enjoy long and superb trips. The countryside is varied, and every bit as good for walking as it is to look at - in summertime as in winter.

Flat plateaus, steep mountainsides, swirling rivers and lofty mountain peaks challenge both body and soul. In addition to this, you are also walking through a well-known Sami cultural area, rich in cultural heritage. Here you will find plenty of marked paths and ski tracks, as well as many cabins, shacks or turf huts. The Argaladhytta in Skaitidalen has gained a reputation as Norway´s most pleasant tourist cabin.

Hunting and fishing

The national park´s boundaries contain some of the best fishing spots in the Saltdal area, where you can hook both char and trout. Small game and moose hunting is also popular, but don´t forget your hunting and fishing licence!

Unique variations

The national park is bounded by Sulitjelma in the north and by the Junkerdalen valley in the south. The entire area is characterised by an extremely varied landscape that was formed during the ice age some 10,000 years ago. It is a landscape that is both interesting and important from a geological perspective.

In the north of the national park is a rolling plateau landscape with a great many lakes, large and small. In the west, the mountainous landscape is more restrained, with a lot of small extended valleys in which the water runs towards Saltdal or out to the fjord.

In the south, the landscape has a considerable feeling of the interior, with long, u-shaped valleys running between towering mountains. The central region is wide and open, with the large Balvatnet at its centre. Solvågtind is towering, prominent and majestic and is the most distinctive mountain in the region.

Rare plants

Junkerdal National Park is in the rain shadow of Svartisen, and so it is relatively dry and warm during the summer. There is a favourable climate and the soil has allowed a wide range of plant species to survive. The flora of the eastern area was protected by law as early as in 1928, and this protection was extended in 1935.

The national park contains a number of floral hills that contain a wide diversity of plant life. Several of the plant species are generally rare, suchas the white Arctic mountain heather (Cassiope tetragonal). The white mountain saxifrage (Saxifraga paniculata Miller), is found in only three places in Norway, and it is most widely distributed in Junkerdal National Park.

Many of the plants in the national park are otherwise only found further north, or on other continents entirely. Some of the specialised plants are bullrush sedge (Carex scirpoidea), snow fleabane (Erigeron humilis) and alpine arnica (Arnica angustifolia), all of which are at their southernmost limit here. Other rare plants found in the national park are Arctic bellflower (Campanula uniflora), upright lousewort (Pedicularis flammea) and hairy lousewort (Pedicularis hirsuta).

Valuable nesting area

A wide variety of rare and threatened wetland birds nest inside the national park, amongst them gerfalcon, golden eagle, red-throated loon, arctic loon and long-tailed duck. The rich vegetation supports a wealth of animal life. Wolverines and lynx live here year-round, and bears regularly wander through the area. Reindeer graze throughout the year.

The national park also represents the southern limit for a number of butterflies, such as the glandon blue and the northern clouded yellow.

A Sami "storybook"

Junkerdal National Park is first and foremost a Sami area. There have been Sami reindeer herders in this area since the 16th - 17th centuries, but there has been hunting and trapping for ages before that. Most of the ancient cultural relics in the national park are from the Sami: traces from tents, sites of turf huts, mountain caves, traps and hearths. In the forest margins, there are also sites indicating permanent Sami farming settlements. The Sami still herd reindeer here.

The national park also contains other cultural relics, including remains from outlying hayfields, fishing, hunting, felling and traces of prospecting and boring in mineral deposits.