Ranelva

Ranelva is a 130 km long river in the municipality of Rana, and is one of the longest rivers in the county of Nordland, Norway. The river begins on Saltfjellet, in the borders between Norway and Sweden, and flows nortwestwards under the name Randalselv (Sami: "Goabdesjåhkå"). Ranelva begins where "Randalselva" and the river "Gubbeltåga" meets. The river flows mainly in a western-southwestern direction.

On its way southwestwards, the river absorbs Virvasselva from south. The part of the river between its beginning and its meeting with Virvasselva is called "Ruovadajåhkå" in Sami.

At Storvoll it absorbs the rivers Bjøllåga, Tespa and Stormdalsåga from the north, and Messingåga from the south. It continues in a southwestern direction through Dunderlandsdal, where it from east absorbs the rivers Grønfjellåga and Plura.

Southwest of the small village Røssvoll, Ranelva meets the river of Langvassåga from the lake Langvatnet. Further down, at Selfors, it absorbs the river Revelelva (the name of the lowest parts of the river Tverråga). Ranelva has its outlet in Ranfjord at Fossetangen on Selfors.

The catchment area of the river is 3790 km². Before the powerstations of "Reinforsen" (1925) and Langvatnet (1964) were built, the catchment area was 3843 km².

Ranelva is a popular river for fishers. It is very rich on salmon and trout. One of the largest salmon tunnels in Norway (385 meters long) is located at the waterfall "Reinforsen", and was built in 1956.

Ranelva was cleansed with rotenone in 1996, 2004 and 2005 beneath the waterfall "Sjøforsen", in order to remove the salmon parasite Gyrodactylus salaris, registered there for the first time in 1975.

Picture galleries

Storvoll

Illhøllia

Reinforsen (The «Reindeer waterfall»)

elfors

Fossetangen

Literature

* Lars-Evan Petterson: "Flomsonekartprosjektet Flomberegning for Ranelva" (156.Z), Norges vassdrags- og energidirektorat, Dokument nr 1, January 2004, ISSN 1501-2840
* Bevaringsgruppa, Rana: "Ranaelva. Plan for fiskebevaringsarbeid og dødfiskoppsamling i forbindelse med rotenonbehandlingen 2003-04"