Sørfold Municipality

Sørfold 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 Straumen. Other villages in the municipality include Leirfjordgården, Mørsvikbotn, Røsvika, Rørstad, Styrkesvik, and Øvre Kvarv. The municipality surrounds the Sørfolda fjord and stretches east to the border with Sweden.

The municipality is the 48th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sørfold is the 286th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,869. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 6.7% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of ''Sørfolden'' was established on 1 January 1887 when the old municipality of Folden was divided into two: Sørfolden (population: 1,946) and Nordfold-Kjerringøy (population: 1,347). The spelling was later changed to just ''Sørfold''. On 1 January 1894, the Movik farm (population: 30) along the Sagfjorden was transferred from Nordfold-Kjerringøy municipality to Sørfold municipality.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the Øyjord area along the Nevelsfjorden (population: 81) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Bodin. On the same date, the Mørsvikbotn area (population: 268) was transferred from Nordfold Municipality to Sørfold Municipality. On 1 January 1984, the Tårnvika and Øygården area (population: 22) along the Sørfolda fjord was transferred from Sørfold to Bodø Municipality.

Name

The municipality is named after the Folda fjord (Old Norse: ''Fold''). The inner part of the fjord is divided into two arms ''Nordfolda'' ("the northern Folda") and ''Sørfolda'' ("the southern Folda"). The meaning of the fjord name is unknown (maybe "the broad one").

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 24 April 1987. The arms show a silver wheel of a turbine in a hydroelectric power plant on a blue background. The rivers around the municipality contained many rapids and waterfalls, which are partly harnessed to generate electricity. This has provided a major source of income for the community.

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish () within the municipality of Sørfold. It is part of the Salten prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Geography

Sørfold municipality is located about north of the Arctic circle. The total land area of Sørfold is , of which is covered with permanent ice and snow, and only lies below the contour line. The total length of coastline is . In 1987, only of land was being actively farmed.

To the north of Sørfold is Hamarøy Municipality and to the south is Fauske Municipality. To the east, the Sørfold borders Jokkmokk Municipality in Sweden.

Rago National Park, with its wild nature dominated by bare rock, streams, and pine forest, is located in Sørfold. The glacier Blåmannsisen, one of the largest in Norway, is partly located in the municipality. There are several nature reserves. Veikdalen nature reserve, roughly above sea level, protects a largely undisturbed pine and birch forest (some logging before 1918) with many standing dead pine trees.

There are many large lakes in Sørfold, including Andkjelvatnet, Faulvatnet, Forsvatnet, Grovatnet, Horndalsvatnet, Kobbvatnet, Kvitvatnet, Langvatnet, Leirvatnet, Litlverivatnet, Mørsvikvatnet, Nedre Veikvatnet, Røyrvatnet, Rundvatnet, Sildhopvatnet, Sisovatnet, Storskogvatnet, Straumvatnet, and Trollvatnet.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Sørfold, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor. The municipality falls under the Salten District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council () of Sørfold is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Mayor

The mayors of Sørfold (incomplete list):
*2019–present: Gisle Hansen ( Sp)
*2003-2019: Lars Evjenth ( Ap)

History

The small village of Mørsvikbotn is located in the north part of the municipality. About north of Mørsvikbotn lies the lake Mørsvikvatnet. In this area, Mørsry, the German army had a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II housing mostly Russian POWs. They were building the Polarbanen railway, which was intended to be a link between Fauske and Narvik. Some ruins of the camp, the foundations of the railway line, a tunnel, and roads can still be observed. A small, now empty, cemetery for fallen Russian soldiers is located close to the camp, about off the left-hand side just before the single concrete bridge.

Notable people

* Alfred B. Skar (1896 in Sørfold – 1969) a newspaper editor, writer, trade unionist and politician
* Eivind Tverbak (1897 in Sørfold – 1982) a Norwegian novelist and children's writer
* Oddmund Ingvald Jensen (1928 in Sørfold – 2011) a cross-country skier and coach, competed at the 1956 and 1960 Winter Olympics
* Thor Helland (1936 in Sørfold – 2021) a 5000 metres runner, competed in the 1964 Summer Olympics

References

External links

*
Municipal fact sheet
from Statistics Norway

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorfold

Municipalities of Nordland
Populated places of Arctic Norway
1887 establishments in Norway