The aesthetic beauty of the landscape in Núpsstaður is well known. The area reaches from the seashore and the black sands, to high white glaciers and includes a green vegetation belt with a native birch forest, willow scrubs and flourishing undergrowth (with e.g. Dactylorhiza maculata) in between. The area is adjacent to Skaftafell National Park. It has numerous impressive geological formations, among them are. various types of lava, rock-glaciers, waterfalls, gullies, canyons, geothermal areas, a central volcano, tectonic fissures, scree slopes, a glacial lagoon, glacial rivers and part of the Vatnajdkull glacier. The farm, Núpsstaður, is situated in the immediate neighborhood of the vast Skei6arcirsandur sands, south of the huge mass of the Vatnaj6kull glacier. East of the farm, looms the majestic cliff of Lómagnúpur, known from the Njál’s saga. At Núpsstaður stands a turf and stone farmhouse and it is a typical middle- sized farm, like those found throughout the 19th century in the southern parts of Iceland. There is a complete group of remarkable old farm houses, as well as a whole set of the usual stables and other outhouses. A church was built at Núpsstaður in earliest Christian times, or at least sometime before 1200 AD, In the Catholic Period. The church was dedicated to St. Nicholas and there were few people in the parish at that time. In the year 1765 however, it was abolished as a parish church, but the building served as a chapel fbr the fanner and his people. After 1783, the building was reduced to the state of a storehouse. In 1930 the National Museum of Iceland took over the old house and in 1958–1960 gave it thorough reparation. Like other turf and stones faffns, Núpsstaður has a long and continuous evolution over many centuries. The same family has lived in N(jpssta6ur since about 1730. The farmstead of Núpsstaður forms an unusually well-preserved cultural landscape, offering a great deal of information about the use of the area before modem changes. The area has always been an agricultural landscape.

In Iceland, it is easy to be environmentally correct. The country has a small population, large tracts of uninhabited land, almost no polluting industry, and the ability to live off geothermal and hydroelectric power without using fossil fuels except for automobiles. The lack of natural resources also means that there is very little to export except for products that come out of the ample surrounding ocean. You can’t export hydro-electricity if you are an island nation. The next best option is to bring in industries that are thirsty for electricity. That has set economics and environmental issues on a collision course like everywhere else in the world. The Kárahnjúkar hydroelectric project is building a dam across two glacial rivers Jökulsá á Dal and Jökulsá í Fljótsdal, flooding a remote part of the already remote Eastern Highlands. The power from the project will be used exclusively by the American aluminum company Alcoa in nearby Reyðarfjörður creating jobs in an economically deprived area dependent mostly on fishing. There have been angry protests by environmentalists in the past year and some people have chained themselves to the construction equipment to protest the dam.

It’s hard to have an opinion on it as we were only visitors here, but we did drive by the dam and the local English speaking paper, The Grapevine, had a huge article about the Alcoa smelter underway.