Bjerkreim

Bjerkreim is a municipality in the Rogaland county, Norway. The parish of Birkrem was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

Nature has been generous in giving Bjerkreim many idyllic places, making Bjerkreim a good place to live by living in a countryside environment, but still relatively close to a major city, Stavanger. The two and a half thousand inhabitants in Bjerkreim have a total area of 585 square kilometres (226 sq mi) at their disposal. It includes one of the most important salmon rivers in Norway, Bjerkreimselva. The most important livelihoods are agriculture and small-scale industries.

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Bjerkreim farm (Old Norse: Bjarkarheimr), since the first church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of bjørk which means "birch" and the last element is heimr which means "homestead" or "farm". Before 1889, the name was written "Birkrem".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 11 July 1986. The arms are canting, showing a birch branch, since the name of the municipality is derived from the word for birch, bjørk.

(See also coat-of-arms of Birkenes and Lavangen)

Geography

Lakes in the region include Austrumdalsvatnet, Byrkjelandsvatnet and Hofreistæ.

Government

Bjerkreim local council is the authority's highest political committee and has 17 representatives. The executive committee has 5 members, who also make up the authority's planning and economical committee. The mayor leads both the local council and the executive committee. In addition there are 2 different sector committees. A notable local politician is Olaf Gjedrem, mayor from 1979 to 1993 and later a member of the national parliament.

The municipality has 2 primary schools and 2 kindergartens.

Transportation

The main means of transportation is via the E39 highway which passes through the municipality.

The municipality lies in the southwestern part of the country. The distance to the nearest airport, Stavanger airport in Sola, is approximately 40 minutes by car.

External links

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
• Rogaland travel guide from Wikivoyage
• The River Bjerkreim (Bjerkreimselva)
• Visit the South region of Rogaland (Reisemaal Soer Vest)
• Salmon fishing in Norway