Stabbursnes Nature Reserve
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Stabbursnes Nature Reserve () is a protected area located in
Porsanger Municipality Porsanger (; ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lakselv. Other villages in the municipality include Børselv, Brenn ...
,
Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...
County, northern
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. It has many habitats, including forests,
wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
s, and rivers.


Geography and location

Situated on the southern bank of the Stabburselva River, the Stabbursnes Nature Reserve covers an area of approximately . It is positioned in the municipality of Porsanger, approximately southwest of the village of
Lakselv ( Norwegian; ), or is the largest village and administrative centre of Porsanger Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The village lies at the southern end of the large Porsangerfjorden. The village has a population (2023) of 2,224 which g ...
. The reserve extends from the
river delta A river delta is a landform, archetypically triangular, created by the deposition of the sediments that are carried by the waters of a river, where the river merges with a body of slow-moving water or with a body of stagnant water. The creat ...
and its bordering floodplains to the mountainous areas further inland.


History

The Sami (or Sámi) people have inhabited the Finnmark region for centuries, relying on reindeer herding and fishing. These activities have been closely tied to the Stabbursnes Nature Reserve as an area of great importance to the Sami and the conservation of the natural environment. Recognizing the significance of Stabbursnes, the
Norwegian government The politics of Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the Council of State, the cabinet, led by the prime minister of Norway. Legislative power ...
designated it as a nature reserve in 1983. Since then, the reserve has been managed with a focus on maintaining conservation and sustainable resource use. Ongoing research and monitoring have been conducted within the reserve to understand its ecosystems better and inform effective management strategies.


Flora and fauna

Stabbursnes Nature Reserve has various plants and animal species that have adapted to the Arctic environment. The reserve's forests primarily consist of
conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...
ous trees such as pine (
Pinus sylvestris ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US), Baltic pine, or European red pine is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native plant, native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly s ...
) and
birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...
(Betula spp.), providing a habitat for numerous bird species like the Siberian jay (Perisoreus infaustus) and the
European pied flycatcher The European pied flycatcher (''Ficedula hypoleuca'') is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. One of the four species of Western Palearctic black-and-white flycatchers, it bird hybrid, hybridises to a limited extent with th ...
(Ficedula hypoleuca). The Stabburselva River, which runs through the reserve, supports a population of
salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
(Salmo salar) and
sea trout Sea trout is the common name usually applied to anadromous (sea-run) forms of brown trout (''Salmo trutta''), and is often referred to as ''Salmo trutta'' morpha ''trutta''. Other names for anadromous brown trout are bull trout, sewin (Wales ...
(Salmo trutta). These fish species are highly valued both ecologically and economically and play a vital role in the local ecosystem. Additionally, the river attracts various waterfowl, including the
common merganser The common merganser (North American) or goosander (Eurasian) (''Mergus merganser'') is a large sea duck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America. The common merganser eats mainly fish. It nests in holes in trees ...
(Mergus merganser) and the
Arctic tern The Arctic tern (''Sterna paradisaea'') is a tern in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe (as far south as Brittany), Asia, and North America (as far south ...
(Sterna paradisaea).


Cultural heritage

Stabbursnes Nature Reserve holds significant cultural importance, as it is home to the indigenous Sami (or Sámi) people, who have inhabited the region for centuries. The Sami, traditionally a nomadic
reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...
-herding community, have a deep connection to the land and continue to practicing their cultural heritage there. One of the notable cultural landmarks within the reserve is the Stabbursnes Sami Museum. The museum showcases the Sami way of life, displaying traditional artifacts, clothing, and tools the indigenous population uses. It is an educational and cultural center, showing insights into Sami history, traditions, and their relationship with nature.


Preservation and management

Stabbursnes Nature Reserve is managed by the
Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management The Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management (, DN) was Norway's national governmental body for preserving Norway's natural environment, including establishing and regulating national parks and other protected areas until 2013 when it was merged ...
, with the primary goal of preserving its unique ecosystems and cultural heritage. Conservation efforts aim to maintain the natural balance, protect vulnerable species, and ensure sustainable use of the reserve's resources. Strict regulations govern activities within the reserve to minimize human environmental impact. These regulations include restrictions on fishing practices, camping, and off-trail exploration to minimize the environmental impact.


References

{{reflist Nature reserves in Norway