Saltdal

Saltdal is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Rognan. Other villages in Saltdal include Røkland and Lønsdal.

The 2216 km2 municipality is the 26th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Saltdal is the 187th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 4,650. The municipality's population density is 2.2 PD/km2 and its population has decreased by 2% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
The municipality of Saltdal was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1949, a small area of Skjerstad Municipality (population: 10) was transferred to Saltdal. Other than that one change, the borders have never changed.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Saltdalen valley (Salptardalr). The river Saltdalselva runs through the Saltdalen valley. The first element of the name is the old name of the river, Salpti. The river name is salpt which means "strong stream". The last element is which means "valley" or "dale". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Saltdalen. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Saltdal, removing the definite form ending -en.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 28 October 1988. The official blazon is "Gules, a rowan twig Or" (I rødt en gull rognekvist). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is two rowan twigs. The rowan twig has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. This design was chosen to represent nature and the prevalence of rowan forests in the municipality. They are also canting arms because the Norwegian word for rowan is rogn and the municipal centre is the village of Rognan. The arms were designed by Arvid Sveen.

Churches
The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Saltdal. It is part of the Salten prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

History
During World War II, the Germans decided to lengthen the Nordland Line from Lønsdal in Saltfjellet going northwards. Over a period of three years, the original plan was to first have both the road and the railroad all the way to Narvik and then on to Kirkenes, but they only managed to build the railroad to Bodø.

The Germans continued to lengthen the road to Kirkenes, and it came to be known as Blodvegen ("the Blood Road") by locals. This project involved prisoners of war, mostly from Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, in building this road under extremely harsh conditions. The workers lived in prison camps where they did not receive enough food for their hard work building the road. This caused many of the workers to collapse and die. A famous sign of this road is the blood cross one of the prisoners drew on the mountainside with his recently killed friend's blood. It has become a tradition to repaint this cross with red paint, so people who pass this will never forget what happened. It's still possible to walk this road, which stretches from Saltnes to Soksenvika. At Saltnes, you will find the Blood Road museum.

Saltdal was known for having some of the most horrifying prisoner-of-war camps in Norway during World War II. A grand total of 15-18 camps with 9,500 Russian, Polish, and Yugoslavian prisoners were located in the valley.

Government
All municipalities in Norway are 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 Salten og Lofoten District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Saltdal is made up of 21 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 Saltdal (incomplete list):
 * 1999-2011: Kjell Magne Johansen (Ap)
 * 2011-2015: Finn-Obert Bentsen (Ap)
 * 2015–2023: Rune Berg (Sp)
 * 2023–present: Runar Løvdal Jensen (Ap)

Geography
The main centre in the municipality is Rognan, on the southern shore of the Saltdal Fjord, where the valley floor meets the fjord. When the Ice age ended and the ice had melted 9,000 years ago, the valley was a fjord as the sea reached what is today an elevation of 120 m due to isostatic depression. The valley is situated just north of the Arctic Circle.

Two national parks are partially in the municipality: Saltfjellet–Svartisen National Park in the southwest, and Junkerdal National Park in the eastern part. This makes Saltdal one of the municipalities in Norway with the largest percentage of protected areas within its borders. The river Saltdalselva runs through the valley. The riverbed appears very bright in some places due to the minerals in the sand. The valley is covered with pine forest and birch and other trees are common as well. Lakes in the region include Balvatnet, Fiskeløysvatnet, Kjemåvatnet, and Nordre Bjøllåvatnet. The mountain Ørfjellet is also located in the municipality.

Climate
The municipality lies on the northeastern side of the Saltfjellet mountains, in the rain shadow of the mountains. With mountains surrounding it in almost all directions, Saltdal is one of the driest areas in Norway, especially the upper part of the valley. For five years in a row, 2001 to 2005, and then again in 2007 and 2008, the weather station in the upper part of the Saltdal valley recorded the least precipitation in all of continental Norway, with only 74 mm in 2005. The weather station (81 m ASL) was situated in the upper part of the valley (Storjord) at a farm from 1982 to 2012. From 2013 onwards, the weather station (39 m) is situated about 6 km down the valley at a camping site (Nordnes), but still in the upper part of the valley (Øvre Saltdal). Data from the first station (81 m) shows this to be the driest place in Norway (excluding Svalbard), with on average just over 200 mm precipitation annually.

In spite of the low precipitation, Saltdal has lush vegetation with meadows and forests on the side of the mountains due to the low temperatures reducing evapotranspiration. Due to the rarity of extreme cold snaps, the environment and plant hardiness resemble latitudes further south in the Nordic interior.

Located in an inland valley, Saltdal is also known for its warm summer days, frequently being one of Norway's warmest locations if the right weather situation occurs (with easterly or southeasterly winds blowing). It is not uncommon with daytime temperatures approaching and sometimes exceeding 30 C in the summer months. Similarly, winter temperatures can be quite cold, often dropping below -20 C on a clear day.

During a heatwave in June 2011, Saltdal recorded four days in a row with daytime temperatures exceeding 30 C. On 11 June 2011, Saltdal recorded a daytime high of 33.8 C, which was a new heat record for Nordland county in the month of June. During the July 2019 European heat wave the temperature reached at 34.6 C in Saltdal, the highest temperature ever measured north of the Arctic Circle in Norway. The all-time low -32.2 C was recorded January 2010.

Transportation
The European route E6 highway passes through the entire length of Saltdal, with the Nordland Line running alongside it. A road running east through the Junkerdalen valley (National Road 77) leads to Sweden. The nearest main airport is in Bodø, about 90 minutes from Rognan by road. There is a general aviation airport—Rognan Airport.

Economy
Nowadays, the largest employer is Nexans. The company's Rognan factory specializes in telecommunication, fibre optics and copper cables. There is also some agriculture in Saltdal, and many people work within public services.

[In] September 2023, at least one manufacturer of huts - has kept a minority of its employees, while dozens are laid off until the new year.

Saltdal has a history in boat building out of local timber. Especially before World War II, the boatbuilding industry employed a large percentage of Saltdal's population.

Notable people

 * Ludvig Kristensen Daa (1809 in Saltdal – 1877), Norwegian historian, ethnologist, auditor, editor of magazines and newspapers, educator and politician
 * Arne Hjersing (1860 in Saltdal – 1926), Norwegian painter
 * Bernhoff Hansen (1877 in Rognan – 1950), Norwegian wrestler, gold medallist in the 1904 Summer Olympics
 * Erling Engan (1910 in Saltdal – 1982), Norwegian politician
 * Trygve Henrik Hoff (1938 in Rognan – 1987), Norwegian singer, composer, songwriter and writer
 * Hans-Erik Husby (1972 – 2021), Norwegian rock singer (Turbonegro); lived about five years in Rognan in his childhood and early teens
 * Ragnhild Furebotten (born 1979 in Saltdal), Norwegian fiddler, folk musician and composer
 * Lena Kristin Ellingsen (born 1980 in Saltdal), Norwegian actress