Holtålen

Holtålen is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is located in the Ålen area of the village of Renbygda. Other villages in the municipality include Hessdalen, Aunegrenda, and Haltdalen.

The 1209.5 km2 municipality is the 89th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Holtålen is the 279th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,997. The municipality's population density is 1.7 PD/km2 and its population has decreased by 1.6% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
The municipality of Holtaalen was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1841, the western part of the municipality was separated to become the municipality of Singsaas. This left Holtaalen with 1,885 residents. Then in 1855, the southeastern part of Holtaalen was separated to become the municipality of Aalen, leaving Holtaalen with 809 residents. The spelling of the name was changed to Holtålen in 1921. In 1937, the name was changed from Holtålen to Haltdalen. On 1 January 1972, the municipality of Haltdalen was merged with the neighboring municipality of Ålen to form the new (present-day) municipality of Holtålen (resurrecting an old name for the area as the name of the new municipality). Prior to the merger, Haltdalen had 778 residents. On 21 April 1989, a small unpopulated part of the neighboring municipality of Røros was transferred to Holtålen. On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Sør-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the local valley (Holtdalr and later Holtáll). The first element is Holt is the old name for the local river Holda. The last element is which means "valley" or "dale". Later, around the year 1400, the suffix changed to which means "ditch" or "gully" ( is the modern definite form of this word).

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 4 March 1988. The official blazon is "Gules, a grouse argent" (I rødt en stående sølv rype). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) (a type of grouse). The ptarmigan 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 common local bird was chosen to reflect the importance of hunting in the municipality. The arms were designed by Kari Vårhus Sagen.

Churches
The Church of Norway has three parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Holtålen. It is part of the Gauldal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nidaros.

Geography
The Gauldalen valley with the river Gaula originates from the mountainous area near the mining town of Røros, about 35 km south of Renbygda, which is listed as a World Heritage Site. At the village of Renbygda the deep Gauldalen valley disappears into the mountains, not far from the lake Riasten.

The western part of Holtålen is where the Forollhogna National Park is located with the mountain Forollhogna on the border with Midtre Gauldal municipality. The lake Øyungen lies just outside the park.

The Kjøli and Killingdal copper mines are located in the southeastern part of Holtålen. The last mine in production was Killingdal until it closed down in 1986.

Hessdalen is a mountain valley joining the Gauldal valley close to the village of Renbygda. Around 1983, Hessdalen became famous for UFO observations and the Hessdalen lights. Because of this the Hessdalen AMS station was founded in the valley.

The Rørosbanen railway line runs through the municipality, stopping at the Ålen Station and Haltdalen Station.

Government
Holtålen 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 Trøndelag District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Holtålen is made up of 11 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 Holtålen:


 * 1972–1975: Arne Wolden (Ap)
 * 1976–1979: Olav Myran (Ap)
 * 1980–1991: Håvard Moen (Ap)
 * 1991–2011: Ivar Volden (Ap)
 * 2011–2015: Heidi Greni (Sp)
 * 2015–2019: Jan Håvard Refsethås (Sp)
 * 2019–2023: Arve Hitterdal (LL)
 * 2023-present: Jan Arild Sivertsgård (Ap)

Notable people

 * Mons Lie (1757 in Ålen – 1827), a Norwegian police chief, writer, and songwriter
 * Hans Bull Brodtkorb Mohr (1886 in Haltdalen – 1973), an educator and international cooperation activist
 * Anders Bjørgaard (1891 in Holtålen – 1967), a Norwegian illustrator of the comic series Jens von Bustenskjold
 * Kåre Prytz (1926 in Ålen – 1994), a Norwegian journalist and novelist