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Love the Marsh! Campaign

Our goal is to raise $500,000 over the next five years to improve trails and signage, replace and install benches, replace aging viewing platforms, manage dominant introduced (invasive) species, enhance the main entrance, install washrooms and to continue our community education, interpretative and stewardship initiatives at the Oshawa Second Marsh and McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve.

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Connecting People with Nature

 

*Land Acknowledgement*

We acknowledge that Second Marsh Wildlife Area and McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve are on the Treaty & Traditional Territory of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation of the Mississauga Nation. We respectfully honour the knowledge and understanding of the Indigenous stewards of these ancestral lands, and will work to ensure that the voices of the first peoples are represented in our collections, programs and services.

 

The SECOND MARSH is a 137 ha coastal wetland located in the southeast portion of Oshawa, (Regional Municipality of Durham), Ontario, Canada.  The combination of Second Marsh with the adjacent areas of McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve and Darlington Provincial Park represents nearly 400 hectares, one of the largest publicly accessible waterfront spaces available in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).  It is located on the north shore of Lake Ontario in a major urban center, and is unique in being the largest remaining wetland in the GTA.

The Second Marsh is host to marsh, swamp, wet meadows, a barrier beach and woodlot habitats.  Within the Marsh, you will find sedges and cattails as well as thickets and open water.  At the north end of the Marsh, a swamp and wet forest known as the Ghost Road Bush provides additional food and cover for certain wildlife.  Together, with wet meadows and the surrounding uplands, this dynamic ecosystem supports a rich and diverse wildlife community.  These habitats provide food and cover for over 380 plant species, 305 bird species, numerous species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and hundreds of species of insects.

Second Marsh is not only the largest remaining urban wetland in the GTA but the largest between the Niagara Peninsula and Presqu’ile as well.