– It was quite special, says Turid Strickert about the sight that met her last week. She works for the Norwegian Tourist Association and hosts the cabin in Nedalen in Trøndelag, which is right by Nesjødammen. The lake is artificial and was dammed in the 70s as a water reservoir for the power plant in the Nea-Nidelv watercourse. In retrospect, it has also become one of Northern Europe’s best lakes for char fishing. Now it is completely dry there. It no longer looks like this. The 66 square kilometer artificial lake Nesjødam will now be emptied of water. The water will be returned when the work on the dam is finished in June. Photo: Morten Andersen / news The reason is that the more than 50-year-old dam is to be upgraded. Thus he has been emptied of water. – It was simply like a lunar landscape, says Strickert. The ice has cracked open and there is rugged terrain where there is usually flat, thick ice in winter. Between the ice trench, Strickert could see an old foundation wall. The ruins of the old tourist hut for the tourist association have been lying at the bottom of Nesjødam since the 1970s. Photo: Turid Strickert – It was a special experience, I really have to say that. The brick remains come from the old cottage of the tourist association, which was built in 1903. The members have been talking about the ruins at the bottom of Nesjødam since the 70s. For the first time in 50 years, it is now possible to see them again. Turid Strickert has hosted Nedalshytta for 10 seasons. Photo: Trondhjems Turistforening Long history in Nedalen The history of DNT in Nedalen stretches all the way back to 1887, as the first area Trondhjems Turistforening operated in. – Carl Schultz, who was the chairman of the tourist association from the very beginning, had a special relationship with Nedalen and Nedalen farm, says daily leader of Trondhjem’s Tourist Association, Frode Støre Bergrem. Picture from 1920 shows Nedalen farm which was the first base for the Norwegian Tourist Association in Nedalen. Here tourists bid from 1889 to 1903. Photo: Norhagen og Refsdal / From the book Fjellets Arvesølv by Trondhjems Turistforening In 1889, Schultz entered into an agreement with the drivers of Nedalen gard that tourists could spend the night with them. – After a while, the interest became so great that there was a need for an own cabin, says Bergrem. The first cabin was built on the farm in 1897, but only six years later it had to be rebuilt a few hundred meters away. It is the foundation wall of this cabin that has peeked out. It was built in 1903. The picture is from 1921. Photo: Ing. Wilhelmsen / FROM THE BOOK THE HEIR OF THE MOUNTAIN BY TRONDHJEM’S TOURIST ASSOCIATION – It was actually because there was so much traffic and the guests from the city were a bit loud, so there was a need to get some distance between the farm and the cabin, he says. Until the 1970s, the cabin served as the base for the tourist association in Nedalen. Then the development of Nesjødammen started. Many were critical of the development in 1971, when the last season tourists could enter the old Nedalshytta. Three years earlier, the Storting had decided that the Nesjødam should be repaired, and the cabin site would be covered by water. As a result, it had to be demolished and a new cabin was planned elsewhere in the valley. – Nedalen was a gem and a wonderful natural area, which many people had a strong relationship with, and therefore many members of the tourist association were also very upset and very critical of that development, says Bergrem. The lake approaches the old Nedalshytta. The picture was taken in the summer of 1970, the year before the cabin had its last season. Photo: Ola Bevre / FROM THE BOOK FJELLETS ARVESOLV BY TRONDHJEM’S TOURIST ASSOCIATION The new cabin was ready by Easter 1972 and is the one that still stands in Nedalen, where Turid Strickert is the host. Although it has been a long time since the old cabin ended up at the bottom of Nesjødammen, it has not been forgotten, says Strickert. – This engages people both in and outside the village. People still come to her and tell her that they have worked or been at the old Nedalshytta. Frode Støre Bergrem is the day-to-day leader of Trondhjem’s Tourist Association. Photo: Trondhjems Tourist Association – It is a part of history that is exciting and important for many, I think. Degradation of nature is done in many stages and this is relevant again considering that there is a need for power development in the future due to the green shift, says Bergrem. – In that sense, it is history that repeated itself and should be thought-provoking in all times, what disappears when progress comes. It doesn’t come without a price, he concludes. Nesjødammen An artificial lake in Sylan aust in Tydal municipality, Trøndelag. Lie approx. 15 km west of the border with Sweden. Formed by damming the river Nea at Nedalsmyrene. 1 km long and 40 m high fill dam. The total sea surface is 66 square kilometers and the reservoir content 582 million cubic metres. Completed in 1971 Nesjø Dam consists of Nesjøen and Essandsjøen. Below is the magazine Vessingsjøen. All three are important fishing waters that will be affected by the construction work. Source: SNL/Norconsult Affecting ecosystems Tor Haakon Bakken is a researcher at the Department of Building and Environmental Engineering at NTNU. He says most artificial lakes in Norway are made from already existing water. – When it concerns Nesjøen and Esandsjøen, that is the case. Lake Esandsjøen used to be a lake, then the Nesjødam was built and then an area was dammed. Then Nesjøen and Esandsjøen were linked together as the water level rose. Such construction of lakes leads to major changes in the surrounding ecosystems. – Species that cannot tolerate living under water will disappear and then it will be replaced by species that live under water, so there are two different types of ecosystem, he says. – And then of course there are major landscape changes, that you suddenly get a lake where you have an area of land. This is what it looks like in Nesjødam after extensive work has been done to empty the lake. Photo: TURID STRICKERT – Very rare Bakken says it is not often that residential areas end up below the water surface when hydropower plants are built. – In Norway it is very rare. It has probably worked with some cedars and perhaps some cabins, but to a very small extent it has worked with bussettnad. But internationally, there are many unfortunate examples where people have been moved. Tor Haakon Bakken is a researcher at NTNU in Trondheim. Photo: NTNU He refers to the Free Gorges dam in China, where over 1 million people had to be relocated to create the lake. – It’s a bit of a dilemma with any type of infrastructure project, whether it’s roads or railways or something else. Then it is a question of the needs of society at large in relation to the needs of the individual, says Bakken. – There is a trade-off where a seat must weigh a lot in relation to new power production, for example, he adds.
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120-year-old ruins appeared when the Nesjødam in Tydal was emptied of water – news Trøndelag
