Skånevik- Norwegian engine museum

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.

Bordalsgjelet

Deep down between the stone polished phyllite bedrock in Bordalsgjelet canyon, there is a cascading river. In close cooperation with hard polishing stones, the water has carved into the bedrock for thousands of years - and is still doing so today.

Ulvund

One of the oldest farms in Myrkdalen, Ulvund, is recognized as one of 14 areas in Hordaland having an especially valuable cultural landscape. The dirt road runs along a steep slope down toward Lake Myrkdalsvatnet. The flattest field, which today is harvested for silage, used to be an old grain field, while the slopes were old hayfields.

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.

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.

Holo

I Kvassdalen var det aktiv stølsdrift med mjølking av kyr og geitehald nokre år inn i vårt tusenår, og slik hadde det vore i meir enn to hundre år. Såleis har dalen ikkje fått gro til med kratt og skog, men er open og lys. Fortsett er det beiting av kyr og sauer.

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.