By Katie Strachan
The Oshawa Express

For the past 15 years it stood nestled between the marsh and the woods in the northeast corner of the Second Marsh Wildlife Area. But the largest of the three viewing towers stands no longer because of the work of arsonists. “Unfortunately making periodic repairs to vandalized structures in the wildlife area is a fact of life,” says Brian Brasier, executive director of Friends of the Second Marsh.“But this seems to be a premeditated act given the distance someone would need to travel from the trail entrances and the extraordinary measures required to get the rain soaked wood to burn.” The two-storey viewing tower was originally built as a bigger project, which involved the installation of the boardwalks.
“It was quite a project. They had a lot of community involvement,” he says of the 1995 project. It was made possible by a donation from the Westmount Kiwanis Club and was a treasured part of the Second Marsh says Brasier.

It provided visitors a panoramic view of the wetlands from the top deck and a shady spot to rest and enjoy lunch on the lower level, explains the executive director. The Friends of Second Marsh were notified of the fire on Monday (June 8) morning after hikers came across the charred remains on Saturday (June 6) morning.“As far as we can peg it down it probably happened on Friday night,” says Brasier, adding he spoke to someone who hiked the trails on Thursday evening when the tower was still intact. Thankfully, none of the surrounding plants or bushes caught on fire.“Fortunately the surrounding vegetation was too lush to take fire. It could have been much worse,” he says.

The Friends of Second Marsh filed a report with the police but they say there is not much they can do to find the person(s) responsible for the fire, says Brasier.

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