The Black River Conservation Initiative Project is a multi-year collaborative conservation project that aims to protect invaluable, un-fragmented portions of the Black River watershed to prevent future fragmentation and conversion of an intact ecosystem. The partnerships involved in this project include local, state, and federal agencies, non-profits, private landowners, and the Chehalis Tribe.

The Black River is an important tributary of the Chehalis River system and supports fall chinook, coho, chum, cutthroat, and winter steelhead. It is also habitat for other rare fish species such as Pacific lamprey and Olympic mudminnow. This project is a water rights acquisition that will protect 350 acre feet of water resulting in increased flows for the Black River. Low flows and poor water quality have been identified as limiting factors in the Black River. Reduction of water withdrawals is an identified strategy in the revised Chehalis Basin Salmon Habitat Restoration and Preservation Work Plan. Additional flow to the Black River and Mima Creek will help both the lower 12 miles of the Black river and the Chehalis River. This water right acquisition will provide needed funding for a larger protection effort that will protect more than 725 acres at the confluence of the Black River and Mima Creek. This multi-million dollar acquisition will protect a key parcel on the Black River which connects existing protected areas with the Capitol State Forest and protects more than 200 acres of quality riparian habitat.