Junkerdal National Park ( no, Junkerdal nasjonalpark) is a national park in the municipalities of

Saltdal Saltdal ( sme, Sálát) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Rognan. Other villages in Saltdal include Røkland and Løn ...

and Fauske in Nordland county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, along its border with Sweden. The park opened in 2004. It borders the Junkerdalsura

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

Nature

The park is known for a varied flora. Some mountains and highlands have a large number of arctic-alpine species of plants. The lower altitudes in the park are forested. Several of the plant species are generally rare, such as the white Arctic mountain heather (''

Cassiope tetragona ''Cassiope tetragona'' (common names include Arctic bell-heather, white Arctic mountain heather and Arctic white heather) is a plant native to the high Arctic and northern Norway, where it is found widely. Growing to 10–20 cm in height ...

''). The white mountain saxifrage ('' Saxifraga paniculata'') is found in only three places in Norway, and it is most widely distributed in Junkerdal National Park. Many of the plants in this park are normally only found further north, or on other continents entirely. Some of the specialized plants are bullrush sedge ('' Carex scirpoidea''), snow fleabane ('' Erigeron humilis'') and alpine arnica (''

Arnica angustifolia ''Arnica angustifolia'' is an Arctic and alpine species of plants in the sunflower family, known by the common names narrowleaf arnica and Arctic arnica. It is native to colder regions in Europe, Asia, and North America (northern and western Can ...

''), 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''). There are

wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscul ...

s, lynx, and

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is ...

s that live in the park.

Moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

and

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 sub ...

are both common in the area. A wide variety of rare and threatened wetland birds also nest inside the national park, among them include the gerfalcon,

golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds of ...

red-throated loon The red-throated loon (North America) or red-throated diver (Britain and Ireland) (''Gavia stellata'') is a migratory aquatic bird found in the northern hemisphere. The most widely distributed member of the loon or diver family, it breeds prim ...

, Arctic loon, and

long-tailed duck The long-tailed duck (''Clangula hyemalis''), formerly known as oldsquaw, is a medium-sized sea duck that breeds in the tundra and taiga regions of the arctic and winters along the northern coastlines of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is th ...

Name

The first element is ''junker'' means "

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

". The valley is allegedly named after Preben von Ahlen (1606-1675), called "the junker", who went through the valley in 1658 to raid and destroy the Swedish Nasa silver mine. The last element is ''dal'' which means "

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

" or "dale".

Media gallery

File:Sjurfjellet.jpg, Sjurfjellet, February 2007 File:Storfjellet.jpg, View towards Storfjellet mountain File:Junkerdal-2007.jpg, View in the park File:Solvagtind.jpg, Solvagtind mountain File:Argaladhytta.jpg, Hut inside the park Panoramo storfjelltoppen.jpg, Panorama from Storfjelltoppen mt

References

External links

Map over Junkerdal National Park
National parks of Norway Protected areas of the Arctic Protected areas established in 2004 Protected areas of Nordland Tourist attractions in Nordland 2004 establishments in Norway Fauske {{Europe-protected-area-stub