Ytre Hvaler National Park ( no, Ytre Hvaler nasjonalpark, literally ''Outer Hvaler National Park'') is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

located within the municipalities of

Hvaler Hvaler is a municipality that is a group of islands in the southern part of Viken County, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skjærhalden, on the island of Kirkeøy. The only police station in the municipali ...

and

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad. The city of Fredrikstad was founded in 15 ...

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other side o ...

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 t ...

. The park was established on 26 June 2009 and was the first national marine park in the country of Norway. Ytre Hvaler is mostly a marine park, covering the outer parts of the

skerries A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. Skerry, skerries, or The Skerries may also refer to: Geography Northern Ireland * Skerries, County Armagh, a townland in County Armagh * Skerry, County Antrim, a ...

of the east shore of

Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; en, Oslo Fjord) is an inlet in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the and lighthouses and down to in the south to Oslo in the north. It is part of the Skagerrak strait, connecting the Nor ...

. To the south, the national park's boundaries lie on the

Norway–Sweden border The Norway–Sweden border ( no, Svenskegrensa, sv, Norska gränsen) is a long land national border, and the longest border for both Norway and Sweden. History The border has changed several times because of war. Before 1645, Jämtland, Härj ...

next to

Kosterhavet National Park Kosterhavet National Park ( sv, Kosterhavets nationalpark, literally ''The Koster Sea National Park'') is the first national marine park in Sweden, inaugurated in September 2009. It is part of the Skagerrak sea and is located in Strömstad and ...

. Ytre Hvaler covers an area of , of which is sea and is land. Settlements in the area may have been as old as the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. The park is dominated by the coastal culture which has used the area for centuries, resulting in it including boathouses for fishing.

Akerøya Akerøya is an uninhabited island in the Hvaler island chain in Østfold, Norway. The island has an area of 1.6 km². On the islet Festningholmen near Akerøya is Akerøya Fort which from the 17th century was part of the fortifications of Fre ...

was settled between 1682 and 1807. There are more than 50

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

s in the park, the most prominent being the Danish frigate which was lost during the Christmas Flood of 1717. Within the park are two lighthouses: Torbjørnskjær and Homlungen, both of which are operated by the

Norwegian Coastal Administration Norwegian Coastal Administration ( no, Kystverket) is a Norwegian government agency responsible for the water transport infrastructure along the 9,200 km Coast of Norway. It is responsible for coastal navigation infrastructure, pilotage a ...

. The islands remain in use for

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

. The park includes the Tisler Reef, a cold water coral reef, consisting mostly of ''

Lophelia ''Lophelia pertusa'', the only species in the genus ''Lophelia'', is a cold-water coral that grows in the deep waters throughout the North Atlantic ocean, as well as parts of the Caribbean Sea and Alboran Sea. Although ''L. pertusa'' reefs are ho ...

''. The Tisler Reef is the largest known

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

in sheltered waters in Europe, and is located near the island of

Tisler Tisler is a small island in southeast Norway. The name of the island comes from the Norse word for thistle, þistill', or tistel' in Norwegian, coming from the round shape of the thistle's pericarp. Tisler is among the southernmost of the Hvaler i ...

Gallery

File:Ytre Hvaler, Rødshue coast.jpg, Rødshue File:Ytre Hvaler, Søsterøyene.jpg, Søsterøyene File:Ytre Hvaler, Tisler coast.jpg,

File:Ytre Hvaler, Herføl wave.jpg,

Herføl Herføl is a sparsely populated, wooded island in the municipality of Hvaler in Østfold, Norway. The island has an area of 1,9 km² and is designated with postal code 1690. See also *Ytre Hvaler National Park Ytre Hvaler National Par ...

File:Ytre Hvaler, Guttormstangen coast.jpg, Guttormstangen File:Ytre Hvaler, Akerøya Cottongrass.jpg ,

File:Ytre Hvaler, Heia cross.jpg, Heia File:Ytre Hvaler, Landfasten vegetation.jpg, Landfasten File:Ytre Hvaler, Torbjørnskjær lighthouse.jpg, Torbjørnskjær lighthouse, File:Ytre Hvaler, Holmlungen lighthouse.jpg, Holmlungen lighthouse

References

External links

Ytre Hvaler National Park website
National parks of Norway Protected areas established in 2009 2009 establishments in Norway Hvaler Fredrikstad Marine parks of Norway {{Europe-protected-area-stub