Etne river

There is still life to be found that is just “hanging on a string”. The Etne river has been the most important river for sports- fisherman in Hordaland after salmon fishing in Vosso was temporarily forbidden. As late as 2000, 4 tonnes of salmon and sea trout were taken out of the Etne river, the best fishing for 10 years. In the whole of the county there are only 15-20 rivers that can compete with this haul.

Kinso

Lurekalven

Lurekalven is an unpopulated island of heather moor which is a part of the wilderness belonging to the five farms on Ytre Lygra. Between the two islands there is only a small sound. As late as the 1920s, milking cows were rowed over the sound from Lygra in summer – a form of farming that was adapted to the coastal landscape.

Lygra

The heath landscape on outer Lygra, Utluro and Lurekalven will in future become part of a landscape protection area, to be maintained through traditional activities with year-round outdoor sheep, grazing and burning. The West Norwegian heath country belongs to a large North Atlantic coastal landscape stretching from the Bay of Biscay to the Lofoten islands.

Lysekloster- Mushroom flora

The area around Lysekloster is one of the most popular places in Hordaland for picking mushrooms. The large variety of mushrooms probably stems from the varied, old, cultural landscape which has a lot of open grazing areas and several types of fir- and deciduous forests.

Lysekloster- The monks and nature

Lysekloster was the largest agricultural property in the country when it was phased out during the Reformation in 1537. In its prime this cloister encompassed two-thirds of all the farms in Os. The monks introduced and cultivated new plant species and it was probably they who stocked the waters with fish not indigenous to the area. This legacy from the Middle Ages has left a lasting mark.

Mosnes

The permanently-protected Mosneselva River, with its meltwater from Folgefonna, runs out into Åkra Fjord by the roadless and uninhabited Mosnes. Those who once lived here were forced to surrender to the ravages of Nature. In the autumn of 1962 there was a flood so great that the people were driven from their farms.

Osa

At the bottom of the Osa fjord there is a cultural landscape marked by great contrasts; the wide terraces and the river delta at the fjord contrast with the steep hillsides in the background, where Norddalen leads up to the mountain. There are two farms here. Osa and Sævartveit – the farm at the river mouth and the hollow by the sea.

Solskinstjørni

Solskinstjørni in Osa, just above Haugen farm in Norddalen, is visible only now and again, seemingly always for a period of good weather. Then it disappears abruptly, but its disappearance is not connected to weather conditions.

Stordalen

When the Etne water system was protected in 1994, preservation of the cultural landscape in Stordalen Valley was a a main objective. This is a valley with an exceptional abundance of Different types of plants and animals. In the grey alder forest in Stordalen there are more bird species than in most other places, in fact, denser than one tends to find in a tropical rainforest.