Bjerkreim

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Bjerkreim kommune
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms of Bjerkreim kommune
Coat of arms
Official logo of Bjerkreim kommune
Rogaland within
Norway
Bjerkreim within Rogaland
Bjerkreim within Rogaland
Coordinates: 58°39′25″N 6°8′48″E / 58.65694, 6.14667
Country Norway
County Rogaland
District Dalane
Municipality ID NO-1114
Administrative centre Vikeså
Government
 - Mayor (2005) Asbjørn Ramsli (Sp)
Area (Nr. 170 in Norway)
 - Total 650 km² (251 sq mi)
 - Land 577 km² (222.8 sq mi)
Population (2004)
 - Total 2,461
 - Density 4/km² (10.4/sq mi)
 - Change (10 years) 1.0 %
 - Rank in Norway 306
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Official language form Neutral, but the schools and churches use Nynorsk
Demonym Bjerkreimsbu[1]
Data from Statistics Norway
Website: www.bjerkreim.kommune.no

Bjerkreim is a municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.

Bjerkreim was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

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.

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. With proximity to nature and wildlife, and lakes such as Byrkjelandsvatnet, the two and a half thousand inhabitants in Bjerkreim have a total area of 585 km² at their disposal, which includes one of the most important salmon rivers in Norway, Bjerkreimselva.

The most important livelihoods are agriculture and small-scale industries.

The municipality has 2 primary schools and 2 kindergartens.

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 main means of communication is via European route E39 which passes through the municipality.

[edit] The name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old farm Bjerkreim (Norse Bjarkarheimr), since the first church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of björk f 'birch', the last element is heimr m 'homestead, farm'.

Until 1889 the name was written "Birkrem".

[edit] Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1986). It shows a twig of birch.

[edit] External links