Tornator weighs restrictions as visitors damage Kaunisjärvi

Visitors have littered and damaged the surroundings of Kaunisjärvi so extensively that the landowner is considering restrictions on access and camping, Yle reports. The pond in Ilomantsi has become popular after social media videos filmed there were widely shared and viewed.

Ulla Vartiainen, chair of the Ilomantsi Nature Friends association, said the area had been crowded throughout the summer. She was told that one weekend brought about 30 motorhomes and numerous tent campers, many of whom arrived by car.

Vartiainen photographed vehicles being driven around the shores, as well as new paths, campfire spots and swimming places. She said visitors had moved to new locations because the existing spots could not accommodate them.

“Will local people be left with only the rubbish to clean up and the cleaning costs?” Vartiainen said.

Kaunisjärvi is part of the Valkeajärvi private nature reserve, which was established in 2018 and is owned by forestry company Tornator. The reserve includes the pond and the shores of other bodies of water. Kaunisjärvi is a spring-fed pond between eskers, in a geologically and scenically valuable esker landscape.

Tornator’s head of corporate responsibility, Tuija Luukkanen, said the company learned about the problems only at the beginning of August, after an Ilomantsi municipal council member contacted it by email.

“We were not aware of everything happening at Kaunisjärvi,” Luukkanen said.

She said the current level of popularity was new and expressed hope that it would be temporary. Tornator has owned the area since 2002 and remains positive about recreational use and hiking, but Luukkanen said everyman’s rights also involve responsibility for nature.

“Making fires or driving a motor vehicle off-road are not covered by everyman’s rights,” she said.

The terrain around Kaunisjärvi consists of dry pine forest with low vegetation. According to Vartiainen, the hard ground encourages people to drive wherever they want.

“If there is no room to park, people drive into the vegetation,” she said.

Lack of signs adds to the problem

There are no guide or information signs at Kaunisjärvi. Vartiainen said many visitors do not know that the area is a nature reserve or where camping and making fires are permitted.

Tornator has contacted the municipality of Ilomantsi, which maintains the Susitaival hiking route. A lean-to shelter at Kaunisjärvi serves as a rest stop on the route, and the municipality is responsible for maintaining it.

Luukkanen said the facilities were designed for hikers, not for large numbers of motorhomes. The municipality has promised to provide more rubbish bins at the shelter, which is the only permitted campfire location in the area.

Vartiainen has also asked for the removal of Kaunisjärvi from a website listing parking places for motorhomes. She wants vehicle access to the shores to be prevented, a parking area to be built beside the gravel road, and tent camping to be concentrated around the shelter.

Tornator is now considering whether access or camping should be restricted to reduce the strain on the area’s sensitive nature.