Ørskog is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 ...

. It was part of the Sunnmøre

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

. The administrative centre was the village of Sjøholt. The other main village was Vaksvika, about south of Sjøholt. The European Route E39/ E136 highway runs through the municipality, connecting the towns of

Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrativ ...

and Molde.

Rauma Group Rauma Group is a producer of salmon based in the Romsdal-region in Norway with its headquarters located at Sjøholt, Ørskog. In 2010, SalMar SalMar ASA is a Norwegian fish farm company and one of the world's largest producers of farmed salmon. ...

is the largest company in Ørskog in terms of turnover. At the time if its dissolution in 2020, the municipality was the 363rd largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Ørskog is the 309th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,267. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

is and its population has increased by 7% over the last decade.

General information

Ørskog was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 August 1883, the southwestern district of Ørskog (most of Ørskog on the southwestern side of the Storfjorden except for the Søvik and Ramstaddalen areas) was separated to form the new Søkelven Municipality. This left Ørskog with 1,735 inhabitants. On 1 June 1955, the Søvik and Ramstaddalen areas of Ørskog (south of the Storfjorden) were administratively transferred to Sykkylven Municipality. On 1 January 1965,

Skodje Municipality Skodje (''pronunciation'': kɔʏəor køʏə is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It was part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre was the village of Skodje. The other main village in the municipality was ...

(to the west) and

Stordal Municipality Stordal is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It merged with Norddal municipality to establish the new Fjord municipality in 2020. It was part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre of the municipality was the ...

(to the south) were merged into Ørskog to form a new, larger Ørskog Municipality. This merger was not long-lived. On 1 January 1977, the three municipalities were separated again. On 1 January 2020, the municipality of Ørskog was merged with

Haram Municipality Haram is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It was part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative center was Brattvåg, the industrial center of Sunnmøre. Other important villages in the municipality included Austnes, ...

Sandøy Municipality Sandøy is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It was part of the Romsdal region. The administrative centre was the village of Steinshamn. Other villages included Ona and Myklebost. The municipality was spread out over man ...

, and

Ålesund Municipality Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal counties of Norway, County, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centr ...

to form one large municipality of Ålesund.

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

) is named after the old ''Ørskog'' farm ( non, Øyraskógr), since the first Ørskog Church was built there. The first element is the

plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...

genitive case of ''øyrr'' which means " shoal" and the last element is ''skógr'' which means "wood" or "forest".

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

was granted on 11 November 1983. The arms show a gold-colored wooden pole in the center with black and white ermine on each side of the pole. This was chosen as a symbol for

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

and fur farming. In the 17th century, the municipality exported many tall trees to the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

, where they were used for shipbuilding. The ermine is a

canting ' (IPA: , VOS Spelling: ''tjanting'', jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦛꦶꦁ, Tjanting) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax ( jv, ) in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely ''batik tulis'' (lit. "written batik"). Traditional '' ...

for the many animals in the forests.

Churches

The Church of Norway had one parish () within the municipality of Ørskog. It is part of the Austre Sunnmøre prosti ( deanery) in the Diocese of Møre.

Geography

The municipality lies on the north shore of the Storfjorden, and it is bordered by

to the west,

Vestnes Municipality Vestnes is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Vestnes is part of the traditional district of Romsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vestnes. Other villages in the municipality include Vikeb ...

to the north and east, and

to the south. Most of the population lives along the shore or in the small valleys that stretch inland from the fjord. The eastern part of the municipality is mountainous. At 10:00 p.m. on 8 January 1731, a landslide with a volume of possibly fell from the mountain Skafjell from a height of into the Storfjorden opposite Stranda. The slide generated a

megatsunami A megatsunami is a very large wave created by a large, sudden displacement of material into a body of water. Megatsunamis have quite different features from ordinary tsunamis. Ordinary tsunamis are caused by underwater tectonic activity (movemen ...

in height that struck Stranda, and damaging waves of lesser size traveled as far as Ørskog. It was the first natural disaster to be reported and documented in Norway in historic time.Hoel, Christer, "The Skafjell Rock Avalanche in 1731," fjords.com Retrieved 23 June 2020
/ref>

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Ørskog, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services,

senior citizen Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...

services,

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refere ...

and other social services,

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

economic development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and ...

, and municipal

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

s. The municipality is governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

of elected representatives, which in turn elect a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

. The municipality falls under the

Sunnmøre District Court Sunnmøre District Court ( no, Sunnmøre tingrett) was a district court in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The court was based in the town of Ålesund. The court existed until 2021. It had jurisdiction over approximately the southern third of t ...

and the

Frostating Court of Appeal The Frostating Court of Appeal ( no, Frostating lagmannsrett) is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Trondheim. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal. ...

Municipal council

The

() of Ørskog is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featur ...

breakdown for the final municipal council was as follows:

References

External links

* *
Municipal fact sheet
from Statistics Norway {{DEFAULTSORT:Oerskog Ålesund Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 2020 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Populated places disestablished in 2020