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The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) and the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office (TPSO) are searching for an arsonist who set a fire that destroyed a recently completed boat access fishing pier at the Pointe-aux-Chenes Wildlife Management Area (PAC WMA).

According to the TPSO, they were dispatched around 6:30 a.m., April 21, to a fire located in the PAC WMA, about one mile northwest of Island Road near a water control structure. Some witnesses have said they had seen fire at the site a couple days earlier, TPSO said.

Anyone with information on the fire is asked to contact the TPSO. Also, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the fire.

The destroyed pier, which had only been in place for a year, was one of seven boat access fishing piers and five road access fishing piers that are part of a $5 million PAC WMA Enhancement Project. The project also includes a kayak launch, a renovated boat launch, and soon-to-be constructed pirogue pullovers.

The PAC WMA project, which is located in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, is funded by Natural Resource Damage Assessment dollars resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement. The engineering and design for the projects was provided by the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.

The projects, which are intended to restore a portion of the outdoor recreational opportunities lost as a result of the 2010 spill, have been very popular with fishermen and hunters alike.