Skjåk Municipality

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Skjåk is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bismo. Most of the municipal residents live in the Billingsdalen and Ottadalen valleys along the river Otta. The local newspaper is named Fjuken.

The Template:Convert municipality is the 33rd largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Skjåk Municipality is the 273rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,179. The municipality's population density is Template:Convert and its population has decreased by 5.4% over the previous 10-year period.<ref name="ssb pop">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ssb area">Template:Cite web</ref>

General information

The municipality of Skjåk was established on 1 January 1866 when the large Lom Municipality was divided and the western part of the municipality (population: 2,691) became the new Skjåk Municipality (historically spelled Skiaker Municipality). The eastern part of the municipality (population: 3,299) remained as Lom Municipality. The borders of the municipality have never changed.<ref name="Dag">Template:Cite web</ref>

Historically, the municipality was part of the old Oppland county. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became a part of the newly-formed Innlandet county (after Hedmark and Oppland counties were merged).<ref>Template:Cite SNL</ref>

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Skjåk farm (Template:Langx) since the first Skjåk Church was built there. The first element comes from the word Template:Wikt-lang which means "a running track for horse racing". The last element is Template:Wikt-lang which means "field" or "acre".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Prior to 1889, the name was written "Skiaker", then from 1889 to 1910 it was spelled "Skiaaker". On 4 June 1910, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Skjaak, to give the name a more Norwegian and less Danish spelling due to Norwegian language reforms.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled with the digraph "aa", and after this reform, the letter å was used instead (Skjåk).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 31 March 1989. The official blazon is "Azure, an acanthus quatrefoil argent" (Template:Langx). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is four acanthus leaves connected in the centre. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. This design was chosen to symbolize growth and strength. These symbols are found in many historic artifacts from around the area. The arms were designed by Arvid Sveen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes (Template:Lang) within Skjåk Municipality. It is part of the Nord-Gudbrandsdal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

Churches in Skjåk Municipality

Parish (Template:Lang)	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Nordberg	Nordberg Church	Nordberg	1864
Skjåk	Skjåk Church	Bismo	1752

Geography

File:Solsida Skjåk 1994 Wikipedia.jpg

View of the "sunny side" of Skjåk

Skjåk Municipality is the westernmost municipality in the Ottadalen valley. It is bordered to the north by Fjord Municipality, Rauma Municipality, and Lesja Municipality, in the east and southeast by Lom Municipality, in the south by Luster Municipality and in the west by Stryn Municipality and Stranda Municipality. The municipality lies along the Otta river between the mountainous areas of Breheim and Reinheim. Bismo is the modern population center and the location of the majority of industry and shopping as well as the municipal administration.

The community is at the meeting point between Gudbrandsdalen and the mountains between the eastern parts of Norway and the west coast. The municipality lies on a historically significant traffic artery between Stryn and Nordfjord, Geiranger, and Sunnmøre and the more easterly Ottadal municipalities of Lom and Vågå. The Breheimen National Park and Reinheimen National Park are both located in the municipality.

Of the total area, Template:Convert is used for agriculture; Template:Convert for forestry; Template:Convert is covered by water (including the Breiddalsvatnet lake); and the rest is mountains and other non-arable land. Virtually the entire Template:Convert long valley floor is continuously, but sparsely, built up. Skjåk serves as a point of entry to the mountain areas just west; hunting and fishing are also popular tourist activities. The municipality includes a number of large lakes including Aursjoen, Breiddalsvatnet, Grønvatnet, Langvatnet, Rauddalsvatn, and Tordsvatnet. The Breheimen mountains run through the municipality and the Holåbreen and Tystigbreen glaciers are located in those mountains. The highest point in the municipality is the Template:Convert tall mountain Nørdre Hestbreapiggen.<ref name="elev" />

Climate

The Ottadalen valley is heavily rain shadowed and one of the driest areas in Northern Europe with annual precipitation down to about Template:Convert per year. The weather station at Øygarden (374 m) in the very east of Skjåk receives a mere 298 mm annually (1991-2020 normals) and ranks as the second-driest location at the Norwegian mainland. The climate here is subarctic (Köppen Dsc), characterized by cold winters and mild summers.

In addition, one side of the valley, solsida ("the sunny side"), has a southern exposure, whereas baksida (the "back side") gets very little sun. Agriculture has been enabled by elaborate irrigation systems for hundreds of years, so the area is green and productive rather than desert-like.

History

Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Skjåk by country of origin in 2017<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ancestry	Number
Template:Flag	40
Template:Flag	26
Template:Flag	8
Template:Flag	3

Skjåk has historical roots back to the Viking Age and has a rich cultural heritage. An ancient route of travel between east and west went from Skjåk up through the Raudal valley and down through the Sunndal valley to Stryn Municipality on an arm of the Nordfjord. For example, in 1197, according to King Sverre's saga, Bishop Nikolaus is reported to have sent a group of baglers from Oppdal over the mountains to Stryn on Nordfjord, via Raudal.

Government

Skjåk Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.<ref name="ks">Template:Cite SNL</ref> The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Gudbrandsdal District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council Template:Lang of Skjåk Municipality is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party. Template:Div col Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Kommunestyre table Template:Div col end

Mayors

The mayor (Template:Langx) of Skjåk Municipality is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Div col

• 1866–1875: Otto Ottesen
• 1876–1877: Ola Lund
• 1878–1881: Jon J. Kjeka
• 1882–1883: Kristian A. Hjeltar
• 1884–1885: Ola O. Hyrve
• 1886–1889: Ola Lund
• 1890–1891: Ola O. Skjåk
• 1892–1893: Kristian A. Hjeltar
• 1894–1897: Lars Ånstad
• 1898–1901: Ola O. Skjåk
• 1902–1904: Lars Ånstad
• 1905–1907: Rasmus Haugen
• 1908–1910: Ola O. Ånstad
• 1911–1913: Erik Kvale
• 1914–1916: Kolbein Skaare
• 1917–1919: Johannes Kjeken
• 1920–1922: Kolbein Skaare
• 1923–1925: Olav Øygard
• 1926–1928: Ola F. Gjeilo
• 1929–1931: Olav Øygard
• 1932–1934: Ola F. Gjeilo
• 1935–1941: Ole O. Langleite (Ap)
• 1941–1945: Gudbrand Skjaak (NS)
• 1945–1951: Ole O. Langleite (Ap)
• 1952–1955: Trygve Bakke (Bp)
• 1956–1959: Ole Langleite (Ap)
• 1960–1971: Trygve Bakke (Sp)
• 1972–1983: Hans Krogstad (Sp)
• 1984–1987: Åge Willy Rønningen (Ap)
• 1988–1995: Margit Grimstad Lien (Sp)
• 1996–2003: Hans Krogstad (Sp)
• 2003–2007: Ola Stensgård (Sp)
• 2007–2015: Rolv Kristen Øygard (Sp)
• 2015–2019: Elias Sperstad (Sp)
• 2019–present: Edel Kveen (Sp)

Notable people

• Skjåk-Ola, (Norwegian Wiki) (1744 in Skjåk - 1803), a wood carver whose real name was Ola Rasmussen Skjåk
• Tore Ørjasæter (1886 in Skjåk – 1968), an educator, literature critic, author, and poet
• Jan-Magnus Bruheim (1914 in Skjåk – 1988), a poet and children's writer
• Magnhild Bruheim, (Norwegian Wiki) (born 1951 in Skjåk), an author and journalist
• Rune Øygard (born 1959 in Skjåk), a former politician and convicted paedophile
• Trond Bersu (born 1984 in Skjåk), a drummer and producer

External links

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway Template:In lang