Junkerdal National Park lies in Saltdal

Saltdal

-Transportation:European route E6 passes through the entire length of Saltdal, with the Nordlandsbanen railway running alongside it. A road running east through the Junkerdalen valley leads to Sweden. The nearest main airport is in Bodø, a nearly two hour drive from Rognan.- Economy :Saltdal has a...

 and Fauske

Fauske

is a town and municipality located in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Fauske with approximately 6,000 inhabitants....

 municipalities in Nordland

Nordland

is a county in Norway in the North Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is...

 county, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. The park was opened in 2004 and is 682 km². The park borders Junkerdalsura nature reserve.

Nature

The park is known for a varied flora. Some mountains and highlands have a large number of arctic-alpine species of plants. The lower altitudes in the park are forested. There are a population of Wolverine

Wolverine

The wolverine, pronounced , Gulo gulo , also referred to as glutton, carcajou, skunk bear, or quickhatch, is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae . It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids...

 in the park, and brown bear

Brown Bear

The brown bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It can weigh from and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family and as the largest land-based predator.There are several recognized...

s can also be encountered in the park. Moose is common in the area, as well as reindeer.

The name

The first element is junker 'nobleman'. The valley is allegedly named after Preben von Ahlen (1606-1675), called 'the junker', who went through the valley in 1658 to raid and destroy the Swedish Nasa silver mine

Nasa silver mine

The Nasa silver mine , located on Nasa Mountain on the border between Sweden and Norway, was used for mining silver from 1635 to year 1810. Although it was a commercial fiasco, and never delivered much silver, it was historically important as it contributed to the development of infrastructure in...

. The last element is dal m 'valley, dale'.

External links

• Map over Junkerdal National Park