In the 1960s, the Atna watercourse was subject to various plans for major hydropower development. The plans were met with strong public opposition right from the beginning due to the anticipated environmental damage in an area with a wide array of natural values. As a result, the Norwegian Parliament in 1973 decreed a 10-year protection period for the Atna watercourse to allow a proper assessment of the environmental aspects. The findings formed the basis for the 1985 decision to permanently protect the Atna watercourse from hydropower development. This decision, and the extensive collection of scientific baseline data in a wide range of environmental studies, led to the selection of the Atna watershed as a national research and reference catchment. The FORSKREF program (’Research in reference watercourses’) was established in October 1984.