The program of the meeting:

• field trips to the Dovrefjell Nationalpark for landscape and maybe Musk Ox

• a field trip to Dørål valley in Rondane nationalpark with autumn colours and probably the most stunning mountain landscape in Norway

• the meeting of the IFWP Board

• slide presentations of the Park workers, NN-members, foreign guests (take your portfolios and slides!)

• award-giving in IFWP competitions (mini-festival on Saturday)

• less formal meetings.

Participation in the meeting: the participation fee is around: · NOK 800 (125 Euro) – in 4-bed cottage with shower;
Meals and transportation are additionional. Since most of the participants are coming by car, there will be no transportation costs.
The cottages where you will sleep, have a simple kitchen. If you want you can prepare your own food there. Be aware that the nearest foodstore is 30 kms away (Dombås).
Saturday evening we will organize a special dinner at Kongsvold at a cost of NOK 250.

The weather at this time is unpredictable. Be prepared for temperatures below zero in morning.

Dovre – a symbol of Norway

"United and true until Dovre falls", declared the delegates at Norway’s Constituent Assembly in 1814, and made the Dovre mountains a symbol of the Norwegian nation. For over 200 years the remarkable, rich mountain flora of Dovre has attracted professional and amateur botanists from home and abroad. There are musks, and an intact mountain fauna of reindeer, wolverine and Arctic fox. 

Northern Europe’s richest mountain flora...

The Driva valley cuts through the Dovre mountain plateau, dividing both landscape and vegetation. To the west the mountains are sheer and rugged, formed of old, hard rock types. Soils and vegetation are sparse. To the east the mountains are more gentle; the bedrock is calcareous and forms fertile soils. The Knutshøene area east of Kongsvoll has the most diverse mountain flora in northern Europe. 
In all, 420 plant species have been found in the national park and protected landscape areas; they include 170 of the almost 250 known Scandinavian mountain plants. Many are rare. Some are named after the district, such as the dandelion Taraxacum dovrense and a subspecies of Arctic poppy (Papaver radicatum ovatilobum). Others grow only in a few scattered places in Norway, probably because they survived the last glacial period in ice-free locations near the coast or on peaks protruding above the ice sheet. 

Musks, wolverine and reindeer...

The musks became extinct in Europe during the last ice age. It was reintroduced to Dovre from Eastern Greenland early in the last century, and there are now (2004) some 140 animals. Musks are well able to defend themselves. Significant warnings are that they become fidgety, snort, or form a ring. Please, always keep a distance of at least 200 metres! 
Skrymtheimen–Dovre is the last surviving mountain ecosystem in Europe where reindeer, wolverine and Arctic fox coexist. Europe’s only wild reindeer herds are in southern Norway, and there has been minor interbreeding with domesticated reindeer in and around the national park. Reindeers are well adapted to life on barren and snowy mountains, but disturbance, especially in the winter and at calving time, can be fatal. 
There is an abundance of bird species in the birch forest of the lush Driva valley. Higher up, the birdlife is limited to typical mountain species: snow bunting, dotterel, ptarmigan, etc. 

National symbol and royal route...

Many legends and folk tales are associated with the name Dovre. The Dovregubbe is the very king of Norwegian trolls. Poets have used the Dovre mountains as a national symbol, as did the fathers of Norway’s Constitution in 1814. 
The 100 km long Old Kings’ Road is the oldest road linking south-eastern Norway and Trøndelag county. Kings have passed this road since the times of the vikings, as recounted in the Sagas, and from about the middle of the eleventh century this was the main route for pilgrims travelling to Nidaros (Trondheim). In the springtime when the Driva river was swollen with melting snow, the hazardous Vårstigen ("the spring path") on the slopes of the valley had to be used. 
For hundreds of years, mountain inns have sheltered wayfarers crossing Dovre. Kongsvold Inn (open from March through October) offers accommodation and meals, and houses the national park information centre. Close to and south of the Kongsvold Inn, a botanical garden is situated, containing many of the local mountain plants. Here, one can also find the starting point of a natural trail.

Rondane National Park

Rondane – a montainous landscape of rock, lichen and heather, where mighty peaks tower above deep shady glens, where wild reindeer thrive, and where hikers and fellwalkers seek recreation. 

Norway’s oldest national park…

Rondane National Park was established in 1962, as the first national park in Norway. The park covers a varied mountain landscape of high peaks, lichencovered plateaus and lush valleys. The main purpose of establishing the park was to safeguard the natural environment with its native plants, animal life, and cultural heritage and also to secure the environment as a recreational area for future generations. In addition it was very important to preserve the park as a life supporting area for the native reindeers. Previously, there was one large herd of reindeers, which migrated annually from Rondane over Dovrefjell and westward to the mountains of Sunndalsfjella. However, the railway, roads and human habitation have encroached on their living area and also cut off the reindeers´migration routes. Consequently, the original herd is now divided in two. 
The wild reindeers are the remains of the original mountain reindeers settled in large parts of Europe after the last Ice age. The animals are easily frightened and if they flee from important grazing land, they may not return. 

A glacial landscape ith hardy vegetation…

Rondane is a typical high mountain landscape with 10 peaks over 2000 m. In the mountainous central region of the park, the Ice age has left many traces: deep glens gouged out by glaciers and narrow ravines cut by glacial rivers. Extensive terraces in the Døråldalen valley consist of gravel deposited by the melt waters, and at Skranglehaugan south of Dørålsæter there is a weird landscape, formed when the ice trapped inside the gravel finally melted. 
The bedrock makes a poor soil with minor nourishment for the vegetation. In a few low lying areas there are mountain birch and pine, but most of the national park consists of bare mountains dominated by hardy lichens and heather. In wide areas, the ground is covered with a pale yellow-white carpet reindeer moss, an essential food resource for the reindeers during the winter. One of the flowers managing to survive at high altitudes is the Glacial Crowfoot, which can be found above 1700 m. 

From hunters to fell-walkers…

Ever since the Stone age, man has visited the Rondane mountains to harvest the natural resources. The possibilities for hunting and trapping wild animals attracted man, and traces of pit-falls and other trapping devices are found in great numbers in the national park. Remains of early settlement sites and burial mounds are also found. Stone-built shelters for the hunters, mainly dated from the 19th century, are parts of the more recent cultural heritage. Later, the shelters were used by the famous Norwegian folktale collector, Petter Chr. Asbjørnsen or by visiting British aristocrats. Today´s visitors in Rondane are mainly fell-walkers or hikers. Rondane national park is a popular area, due to dry climate and firm terrain, and even if boulders and scree make the access difficult at times. At certain periods of the year, the park is heavily visited and it is of major importance that the vegetation and wildlife are treated with care. Some trails have been resited in recent years to avoid conflict with the grazing areas and migratory routes of the wild reindeers. 

Enclosed pictures from Rondane and Dovrefjell nationalparks © Øystein Søbye/NN.