Blåfjella–Skjækerfjella National Park (, ) lies in

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is the third largest national park on the Norwegian mainland and one of the largest remaining true wilderness areas. It is located in the municipalities of

Verdal Verdal may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places *Verdal Municipality Verdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad Districts of Norway, region. The administrative cen ...

Snåsa Snåsa may refer to: Places

*Snåsa Municipality, a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway *Snåsa (village), a village in Snåsa Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway *Snåsa Church, a church built in 1200 in Snåsa Municipality in Trø ...

Grong Grong may refer to: Places *Grong Municipality, a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway *Medjå Medjå or Grong is a village which serves as the administrative center of Grong Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located along th ...

Lierne Lierne may refer to: Places *Lierne Municipality, a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway * Lierne National Park, a national park in Trøndelag county, Norway Other *Lierne (vault) In Gothic architecture, a lierne is a tertiary rib connecti ...

, and

Steinkjer or is a municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Steinkjer (town), town of Steinkjer which is located on the inne ...

. The terrain is characterized by mountain plains, lakes, forested valleys, marshes, and a few mountain peaks (''Midtliklumpen'' reaches above sea level). The

Sami people Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

have lived in and used the area for several centuries. There are many Sami cultural monuments here, such as settlements, gathering places, burial sites, and sacred places. The park offers good opportunities for

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

, and other outdoor recreation. The terrain is suitable for shooting

ptarmigan ''Lagopus'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily commonly known as ptarmigans (). The genus contains four living species with numerous described subspecies, all living in tundra or cold upland areas. Taxonomy and etymology The genus ''L ...

and other small game, and there are a number of lakes with

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

and char. There are many paths to hike, some of which are marked, although not in the winter. There are also a few mountain cabins available for overnight stays. Gressåmoen National Park, which was created in 1970 and had an area of , was incorporated into Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella national park in 2004.

Lierne National Park Lierne National Park () lies in Lierne Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The park was established on 17 December 2004 by a royal resolution. The park covers of land along the border with Sweden. The park lies east of the populated area ...

is located just east of Blåfjella–Skjækerfjella National Park.

Flora and fauna

The park is known as the place where

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

was first introduced (migrated) to Norway. There is a large variation of nature types, including areas of undisturbed

old-growth forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natio ...

in the valleys. The

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

includes both coastal species as well as more typical inland species, and

alpine plant Alpine plants are plants that grow in an alpine climate, which occurs at high elevation and above the tree line. There are many different plant species and taxon, taxa that grow as a plant community in these alpine tundra. These include perennial g ...

s. The geology includes both soft

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...

, which is good for plant growth, as well as areas with very hard bedrock with much poorer plant life. A total of 28 species of

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s and many species of birds have been observed in the park. The rare

Arctic fox The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small species of fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Tundra#Arctic tundra, Arctic tundra biome. I ...

and all the large predators in mainland Norway have been found here. This includes

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear native to Eurasia and North America. Of the land carnivorans, it is rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on av ...

lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...

s, and the

gray wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

, although the wolf is only rarely seen. There are also three species of

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

present:

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

, roe deer, and

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

. Four nature reserves are located adjacent to the park: Arvasslia Nature Reserve, Berglimyra and Klumplifjellet Nature Reserve, Gaundalsmyra Nature Reserve, and Storfloa Nature Reserve.

Name

The park was named Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella in 2004 when it was established. ''Blåfjella'' means "the blue mountains" (''-fjella'' is the finite plural of ''fjell'' which means "

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or Moorland, moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of M ...

" or "

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

"). The first element in ''Skjækerfjella'' is the plural ''skjæker'' which means "shafts (of a wagon)" - here referring to long mountain ridges. Both names are most likely Norwegianizations of the Sami names on these mountain areas: ''Låarte'' and ''Skæhkere''.

References

External links

Map of Blåfjella-Skjækerfjella National Park
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaafjella-Skjaekerfjella National parks of Norway Protected areas established in 2004 Verdal Snåsa Grong Lierne Steinkjer Tourist attractions in Trøndelag Protected areas of Trøndelag 2004 establishments in Norway