Reinheimen National Park

Reinheimen National Park
Location:	Møre og Romsdal , Innlandet , Norway
Next city:	Lom , Dombås , Åndalsnes
Surface:	1974 km²
Founding:	November 24, 2006
	The national parks in southern Norway (Reinheimen has number 11)
	Karitinden
	i3 i6

The Reinheimen National Park ( Norwegian Reinheimen nasjonalpark ) is a 1974 km² Norwegian National Park in the Reinheimen Mountains. It belongs to the municipalities of Rauma and Fjord in the province of Møre og Romsdal and Vågå , Lom , Skjåk and Lesja in the province of Innlandet . The national park was established in 2006 to protect the large, contiguous wilderness, the high mountain ecosystem, with its unmistakable biological diversity, the large herds of mountain reindeer and the cultural heritage and, among other things, to protect the area in terms of geology, climate, vegetation and topography to explore even better.

The nature reserves of Finndalen , Ottadalen , Lordalen , Romsdalen , Trollstigen , Tafjord-Reindalen and the Brettingsmoen nature reserve border the park .

history

As early as 1975, the Norwegian "fjellopsynsmann" (for example "mountain guard") and nature photographer Olaf Heitkøtter recommended protecting the area through a large nature reserve in the mountain regions between Lesja, Trollstigen and Ottadalen in order to protect it from exploitation and destruction by hydropower plants. In 1993 the area was designated as a nature reserve.

In 1986 they were considering turning the area into a national park, as this was one of the most pristine regions in southern Norway, which is particularly worthy of protection with regard to its geology, flora, fauna and cultural history.

In 2006 the Reinheimen National Park was finally opened.

Geography, landscape and geology

The park has a varied landscape, which leads from the fjords on the European Arctic Ocean over around 2000 meter high mountains, high valleys and alpine pastures to Gudbrandsdalen . In the northwest of the park is the Tafjordfjella Mountains, the highest mountain of which is the 1982 moh. high karitinden is. In the center of the park is the 2014 moh. high Gråhøe . In the southeast of the park are the Ottadalen and the 1883 moh. high skartind .

The predominant type of rock in the park is gneiss . The landscape was formed during and after the last ice age by the movement of glaciers.

Flora and fauna

The soils in the park are mostly very sterile, only around Slådalsvegen the soils are very calcareous, which makes for a lush flora there.

The largest mammals in the park are the Bergrener . In addition, there are large populations of the alpine grouse and red grouse and also rare and endangered species such as wolverine , golden eagle and gyrfalcon .

heritage Site

In the Reinheimen National Park relics of prehistoric to medieval reindeer hunting and various remains of mountain farms from past centuries were found.

Tourism and administration

The Norwegian Trekking Association has several huts and trails in Tafjordfjella . There is almost no infrastructure in the other areas of the park.

literature

Olaf Heitkøtter . Reinheimen. Fra en fjelloppsynsmanns dagbok. Grøndahl forlag, Oslo 1978, ISBN 82-504-0319-3 (first edition 1974).