Ørskog

Ørskog is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It was part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre was the village of Sjøholt. The other main village was Vaksvika, about 7.5 km south of Sjøholt. The European Route E39/E136 highway runs through the municipality, connecting the towns of Ålesund and Molde. Rauma Group is the largest company in Ørskog in terms of turnover.

At the time if its dissolution in 2020, the 132 km2 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 is 17.6 PD/km2 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.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, Skodje Municipality (to the west) and Stordal Municipality (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, Skodje Municipality, Sandøy Municipality, and Ålesund Municipality to form one large municipality of Ålesund.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Ørskog farm (Øyraskógr) since the first Ørskog Church was built there. The first element is the plural genitive case of which means "gravel shoal near the mouth of a river". The last element is which means "wood" or "forest".

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 11 November 1983. The official blazon is "Ermine, a pale Or" (På hermelin grunn ein gull pæl). This means the arms have a field (background) has a tincture of ermine which means it is commonly colored white with small black spots. The charge is a pale with a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The pale was chosen to symbolize a tree trunk, as a symbol for forestry. In the 17th century, the municipality exported many tall trees to the Dutch Republic, where they were used for shipbuilding. The ermine background was chosen to symbolize fur farming in the area as well. The ermine is also a canting for the many animals in the forests. The arms were designed by Jarle Skuseth. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

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

Geography
The municipality was located on the north shore of the Storfjorden, and it was bordered by Skodje Municipality to the west, Vestnes Municipality to the north and east, and Stordal Municipality to the south. Most of the population lived along the shore or in the small valleys that stretch inland from the fjord. The eastern part of the municipality was mountainous.

At 10:00 p.m. on 8 January 1731, a landslide with a volume of possibly 6,000,000 m3 fell from the mountain Skafjell from a height of 500 m into the Storfjorden opposite Stranda. The slide generated a megatsunami 100 m 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.

Government
While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality fell under the Sunnmøre District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Ørskog is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown for the final municipal council was as follows:

Mayors
The mayors of Ørskog:


 * 1837–1839: Ole Sollied
 * 1840–1844: Schølberg
 * 1844–1845: Ole Sollied
 * 1846–1849: Fredrik Krabbe
 * 1850–1863: Lars Strømme
 * 1864–1867: Fredrik Søholt
 * 1868–1881: Aamund Aure
 * 1882–1883: Lars P. Grebstad
 * 1883–1885: Ole Strømme
 * 1886–1889: P. Skarbø
 * 1890–1913: P. Th. Gjære (V)
 * 1914–1919: Tore P. Gjære
 * 1920–1934: Tore Vaksvik (V)
 * 1935–1945: Ole P. Solnørdal
 * 1945–1945: Olav Sjøholt
 * 1946–1951: Per Gjære
 * 1952–1957: Hans Busæt
 * 1958–1959: Bjarne Hansen
 * 1960–1964: Hans Busæt
 * 1965–1971: Jostein Valde
 * 1972–1975: Otto Berg
 * 1976–1987: Lars Vethe (Sp)
 * 1988–1989: Mons-Olav Walgermo (KrF)
 * 1990–1995: Jostein Vestre (V)
 * 1995–2003: Knut Helge Harstad (V)
 * 2003–2007: Sigmund Stene (V)
 * 2007–2015: Thorbjørn Fylling (FrP)
 * 2015–2017: Karen Simonnes Aanes (Ap)
 * 2017–2019: Knut Helge Harstad (V)