Seiland National Park
Seiland National Park lies in Alta Municipality and Hammerfest Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The park includes the majority of the island of Seiland, the second-largest island in Finnmark after Sørøya. The park includes two glaciers: Seilandsjøkelen and Nordmannsjøkelen. The highest point in the park is the tall mountain Seilandstuva. The park was established on 8 December 2006. The of the water inside the park's area, includes the surrounding sea and many fjords including the Nordefjorden, Sørefjorden, and Flaskefjorden.
Flora and habitats
Saltfjellet–Svartisen encompasses a diverse suite of semi‑natural coastal and alpine habitats. Along the fjord inlets, narrow belts of coastal meadow and semi‑natural grassland persist where historic mowing and grazing have maintained species‑rich turf; botanists have recorded vulnerable plants such as the Finnmark snow‑primrose and other red‑listed taxa in these areas. Above the shoreline, extensive stands of traditional hay meadows —classified as critically endangered—survive on the slopes north of Store Bekkarfjord, where remnants of 20th‑century mowing remain visible in both field observations and aerial imagery. Farther inland, semi‑natural mires and wet meadows show traces of former peat cutting and fodder harvest, supporting robust communities of bottle sedge, cloudberry and sundew in association with old drainage ditches. Upland areas above the tree line are dominated by boreal heath—with crowberry, reindeer lichen and dwarf shrub vegetation—and by tundra on exposed ridges, where low cold‑tolerant forbs and moss‑ and lichen‑rich outcrops form a continuous mosaic of high‑latitude alpine plant communities.
Fauna
In June and July 2019, helicopter‑based surveys logged 122 bird observations across 27 species, yielding precise locations for nests and territories of raptors and waders. Five golden eagle territories were confirmed—two of which fledged young in 2019—and nine white-tailed eagle territories were recorded, with at least one successful brood. Observations also included red‑listed species such as Eurasian curlew and black-tailed godwit, as well as vulnerable falcons and locally important ptarmigan. The distribution of these records, plotted against park boundaries, emphasises the importance of coastal cliffs and inland ridges as breeding and foraging areas. Mammalian records during the same fieldwork included Eurasian otter, a vulnerable species in Norway, and evidence of Arctic hare.