Guardians of the Land: Our Ongoing Commitment to the Waterways and Forests of Bearhill
At Bearhill, we are more than just visitors on this land — we are its stewards. Owning a large area of forest and shoreline around the kennel is not just a privilege, but a responsibility we take to heart. As guardians of this land, we feel a deep moral obligation to care for it — the forests, the waters, the wildlife — and to preserve its health and beauty for generations to come.
One of the ways we uphold this duty is through our active involvement in the restoration of local waterways. For the second year in a row, we are volunteering our time and effort to assist the Finnish environmental authorities in rehabilitating a small stream near our kennel — a stream that flows from nearby Viiksjärvi lake and eventually joins the majestic Ounasjoki. The sections that nearby our land are now being lovingly restored to a more natural state.
Why restore a stream? The answer lies in history. Around 100 years ago, during the height of the logging era, rivers and streams across Finland were modified to support timber floating. To ease the passage of logs downstream, loggers removed rocks, deepened beds, and straightened natural curves. While effective for transport, this practice severely damaged aquatic ecosystems. Species like brown trout and freshwater crayfish lost critical spawning grounds and shelter, and populations suffered.
Today, we are part of the solution. Together with environmental experts, we’re helping to return these waterways to a more natural form. Over the next few days, our team will don rubber boots and waders, grab shovels and crowbars, and work directly in the stream. We’ll move rocks to recreate natural rapids and eddies, rebuild gravel beds for fish to spawn, and do everything we can to bring life back to this precious ecosystem. It’s hard, muddy, rewarding work — and we’re proud to be part of it.
But our commitment doesn’t end at the stream.
Just upstream lies the lake of Viiksjärvi, a 500-hectare body of water with an average depth of four meters, holding an estimated 22 million cubic meters of water. This is a lake that not only defines the landscape — it also hosts many of our winter tours once the ice is thick enough. Naturally, we and our neighbors care deeply about how our presence might impact its pristine waters.
We ask ourselves tough questions: Does dog waste end up in the lake? Do we leave behind gear or trash? How can we minimize any negative footprint?
To answer these, we’ve taken proactive steps. For several years now, we’ve sent out a clean-up crew each day during the tour season to collect visible waste along the lake — especially dog droppings. At the end of the season, we conduct a final sweep to retrieve trail markers, lost booties, gloves, or the occasional phone or camera. Our aim is always to leave the lake as we found it — or better.
We’ve also conducted thorough mapping of all drainage points and swamp-fed channels flowing into the lake. This includes identifying man-made ditches created to dry forests for logging — some of which, unfortunately, were dug as recently as 2020–2024. Though legal, these ditches have caused visible degradation of water quality in many parts of Finland. We’ve seen it here too — once crystal-clear waters slowly turning brown and murky, the result of poorly managed water diversion and soil runoff.
This is something we refuse to ignore.
That’s why we’ve partnered with environmental authorities to monitor the water quality of Viiksjarvi. It’s one of Finland’s designated test lakes, regularly sampled and analyzed. In addition to the government data, we’ve invested in our own private water testing to monitor nutrient levels, microbial activity and temperature — ensuring that we have a full, transparent view of the lake’s condition.
The good news? So far, our operations have shown no measurable negative impact on the lake’s health. Our dogs, our tours, our trails — none have caused harm. But we won’t take that for granted. We’ll continue monitoring, adjusting, and learning.
At Bearhill, we don’t claim to be perfect. Running a business and living in nature inevitably has an impact. But what matters to us is doing everything we can to understand that impact — and to mitigate or prevent it wherever possible. Stewardship begins with awareness. And awareness must lead to action.
From restoring streams to monitoring lake quality, from working with authorities to educating ourselves and our team — we see environmental responsibility not as an extra task, but as a core part of who we are and what we do. This land gives us so much. The least we can do is give something back.
— Bearhill Husky Team
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