On 1 January 1964, the middle part of the Eksingedalen valley (population: 151) was transferred from Modalen to the municipality of Vaksdal.

Also on that date, the Nipo, Dyrkolbotn, and Eitrdalen farm areas (population: 12), located north of the village of Romarheim, were transferred from Modalen to the neighboring municipality of Lindås.

The official blazon is "Vert, three spades palewise two and one argent" (Norwegian: På græn grunn tre kvite spadar, 2-1).

This means the arms have a green field (background) and the charge is a set of three spades aligned vertically with the center one sitting lower than the others.

Modalen is the only municipality in Norway that has a non-partisan council, so all representatives run on local lists rather than by party.

It surrounds the innermost part of the Romarheimsfjorden (which is also called the Mofjorden) and the Modalen valley which extends eastwards from the end of the fjord.

Both roads were constructed fairly recently, before that time, the municipality was only accessible by boat or crossing mountains on foot.

The high mountains that surround the valley provide many sources of hydroelectric power such as the lake Skjerjavatnet.

[19] Modalen was the first community to undergo an all-broadband project as part of an effort by the Norwegian government to achieve full broadband coverage nationwide by 2004.