Skjåk

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 2076 km2 municipality is the 33rd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Skjåk is the 271st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,147. The municipality's population density is 1.1 PD/km2 and its population has decreased by 5.8% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
The municipality of Skjåk was established on 1 January 1866 when the municipality of Lom was divided and the western part of the municipality (population: 2,691) became the new municipality of Skjåk (historically spelled Skiaker). The eastern part of the municipality (population: 3,299) remained as Lom.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Skjåk farm (Skeiðakr) since the first Skjåk Church was built there. The first element comes from the word which means "a running track for horse racing". The last element is which means "field" or "acre". 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. 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).

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 31 March 1989. The official blazon is "Azure, an acanthus quatrefoil argent" (På blå grunn eit sølv firblad). 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.

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

Geography
Skjåk is the westernmost municipality in the Ottadalen valley. It is bordered to the north by the municipalities of Fjord, Rauma, and Lesja, in the east and southeast by Lom, in the south by Luster and in the west by Stryn and Stranda. 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, 19 km2 is used for agriculture; 129 km2 for forestry; 75 km2 is covered by water (including the Breiddalsvatnet lake); and the rest is mountains and other non-arable land. Virtually the entire 23 km 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.

Climate
Nestled in a deep valley, the populated regions of Skjåk are rain shadowed and as a result are actually one of the most arid places in Europe with annual precipitation of about 10 in per year, but it avoids a steppe climate (Köppen BSk) by being too cold (mean annual temperature of 2.75 C), thus having a low evapotranspiration rate, and having precipitation too spread out (about 55% in summer). This gives Skjåk a subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc), thanks to low overall precipitation levels in summer.

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
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 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. 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 Skjåk 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.

Mayors
The mayors (ordførar) of Skjåk:


 * 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 Norwegian 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 Norwegian drummer and producer