Gausdal

Gausdal 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 Follebu. Other villages in Gausdal include Segelstad, Forset, and Svingvoll.

The 1191 km2 municipality is the 91st largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Gausdal is the 157th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 6,129. The municipality's population density is 5.3 PD/km2 and its population has decreased by 0.2% over the previous 10-year period.

Logging, farming, and tourism are important industries in the municipality.

General information
The parish of Gausdal was established as a civil municipality on 1 January 1738 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1867, a small area of neighboring Øyer Municipality (population: 40) was transferred into Gausdal. In 1879, the municipality of Gausdal was divided into two separate municipalities: Vestre Gausdal in the northwest (population: 2,362) and Østre Gausdal in the southeast (population: 5,911). On 27 July 1956, a small area of Sør-Fron municipality (population: 7) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Vestre Gausdal. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1962, the two municipalities of Vestre Gausdal (population: 2,590) and Østre Gausdal (population: 3,942) were merged into a new Gausdal Municipality.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Gausdalen valley (Gausdalr) since the municipality is located in the valley. The first element is named after the river Gausa which flows through the valley. The river name comes from the verb which means to "gush", "burst out", or "stream forcefully". The last element is which means "valley" or "dale".

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 19 September 1986. The official blazon is "Per fess azure and argent, a single stair step section slanting outwards" (Delt av blått og sølv ved enkelt trappesnitt skrått utover). This means the arms have are divided with a line that is divided horizontally in the shape of a stairstep that is slanting to the right. The field (background) above the line has a tincture of blue. Below the line, the field has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The arms were designed to mimic the shape of one of the main mountains in the municipality, Skeikampen. The bottom argent part represents the snowy mountain and the top blue part represents the sky. The arms were designed by Inger Line Thallaug. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches
The Church of Norway has five parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Gausdal. It is part of the Sør-Gudbrandsdal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

History
The old Follebu Church was built of stone in the early Middle Ages (around 1250). It is unusual in that the chancel and nave were built as one continuous piece.

In the 1880s, there was mining for nickel in the Espedalen valley in the northwest part of the municipality. The search for nickel was taken up again in 2004 by Blackstone Venture, a Canadian company. As of 2006, they are still drilling for mineral samples only.

Geography


Gausdal is bordered on the northwest by Sør-Fron Municipality, on the northeast by Ringebu Municipality and Øyer Municipality, on the southeast by Lillehammer Municipality, on the south by Nordre Land Municipality, and on the southwest by Nord-Aurdal Municipality and Øystre Slidre Municipality.

The famous Peer Gynt mountain road begins here and leads to the town of Vinstra.

A popular ski area is located on the south slope of Skeikampen mountain.

Western tributaries of the Gudbrandsdalslågen river include the Gausa River, which flows through Gausdalen valley. The lake Dokkfløyvatn is located in the municipality.

Norway's smallest national park, Ormtjernkampen National Park, lies within the municipality.

Government
Gausdal 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. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Vestre Innlandet District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Gausdal is made up of 23 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Gausdal since its establishment in 1962:


 * 1962-1970: Reidar Engjom (Ap)
 * 1970-1975: Bjørn Midtlien (Ap)
 * 1976-1982: Kristian Baukhol (Ap)
 * 1983-1991: Nils Nygard (Ap)
 * 1992-1993: Liv Røe Johnsen (SV)
 * 1994–2001: Inger Enger (Sp)
 * 2001-2007: Olav Olstad (Sp)
 * 2007-2011: Mona B. Nicolaysen (Sp)
 * 2011-2019: Hans Oddvar Høistad (Ap)
 * 2019–present: Anette Musdalslien (Sp)

Public service

 * Abraham Pihl (1756 in Gausdal – 1821), a Norwegian clergyman, astronomer, and architect
 * Hakon Adelsteen Sommerfeldt (1811 in Gausdal – 1888), a Norwegian naval officer and ship designer
 * Sigurd Fougner (1879 in Østre Gausdal – 1959), a Norwegian Supreme Court judge
 * Reidar Engjom, (Norwegian Wiki) (1907 - Gausdal - 1970), a Norwegian politician

The Arts

 * Simen Fougner (1701 in Follebu – 1783), a Norwegian farmer, poet, and non-fiction writer
 * Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910), a Norwegian author and Nobel Prize in Literature winner in 1903; lived in Aulestad in Follebu, 1874-1910
 * Iver Holter (1850 in Gausdal – 1941), a composer and conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra from 1882-1886
 * Ole Amundsen Buslett (1855 in Gausdal – 1924), a Norwegian-American author, newspaperman, and politician
 * Clara Tschudi (1856–1945), a Norwegian writer who lived in Gausdal
 * Hans Aanrud (1863–1953), a writer of plays, poetry, and stories of rural life in Gudbrandsdalen; raised in Auggedalen
 * Inge Krokann (1893 – 1962 in Gausdal), a writer who wrote idiosyncratic nynorsk works
 * Carl Gustav Sparre Olsen (1903–1984), a violinist and composer of Norwegian folk tunes; lived in Gausdal from 1947-1966
 * Magne Elvestrand (1914 in Østre Gausdal – 1991), a pianist, harpsichordist, and organist
 * Else Kveine, (Norwegian Wiki) (1933 in Gausdal - 2013), a Norwegian poet

Sport

 * Christen Smed, (Norwegian Wiki) (1797 in Gausdal - 1846), a mountaineer who climbed Romsdalshornet
 * Mattis Stenshagen (born 1996 in Follebu), a Norwegian cross-country skier

Sister cities
Gausdal has sister city agreements with the following places:
 * 🇸🇪 – Mora, Dalarna County, Sweden