Jan Nordvålen

Jan has been a ranger in the mountains in and around Femundsmarka National Park for nearly 30 years. His first trip to Svalbard was in 1994 when he was working as a dog musher/guide on several expeditions with the dog team.

Since then, he has been on numerous trips to Svalbard both as a visitor and for work, such as expedition guide and as a ranger for the Governor of Svalbard, known as the «Sysselmester» for three summer seasons. Boat patrolling on the west coast of Svalbard and living out in the field for two months at a time. In this role, he has been registering cultural heritage sites, cleaning plastic waste from the shore, counting birds on islands and cliffs, and several wildlife registrations such as polar bears, reindeer, walrus, and whales.

Another task has been controlling cruise ships, sailboats, and other small vessels, and guiding visitors about protecting the Svalbard environment. During these three years, he has been traveling more than 8000 km in an open boat along the shores of Svalbard.

Jan also likes to travel to other countries and has been traveling to many different countries. He has been to faraway places like Tibet, DR Congo, and kayaking in the Amazon, and many more.

When he is not traveling or working, he is most likely to find out in nature, always with the camera at hand. Nature photography has been a major interest since his younger days, especially landscape photography. But also wildlife in general.