The Grayland Property, now named the Elk River Unit - Johns River Wildlife Area, is a 1,670-acre property that Ducks Unlimited (DU) and Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) partnered to acquire in two phases in December 2018 and April 2019. WDFW purchased the Elk River Unit (ERU) for inclusion into its portfolio of state wildlife areas. The ERU contains a diverse assemblage of wildlife habitats including fresh and estuarine wetlands, tidally influenced sloughs, interdunal wet/swale complexes, wet meadow/grasslands, mature growth forested uplands, and former commercial timber lands in various early age classes. While the Elk River Unit is large and contains a diversity of upland and wetland habitats, much of the property was degraded and provided poor or limited fish and wildlife habitat quality prior to WDFW ownership. This is especially true as it relates to anadromous fish. At least 12 barriers to fish passage were documented by DU and WDFW, which limit estuarine and wetland function and quality to parts of the wildlife area, as well as limiting access for various life stages of salmon. In anticipation of future salmon habitat restoration and passage improvements, DU proposed the Wetland Restoration Assessment for the Grayland Property as an effort to develop initial site assessment and inventory activities that will serve as baseline information for Restoration Planning and Project Coordination, including conducting habitat restoration scoping and feasibility studies, salmonid habitat assessments and instream surveys. The project team (DU, WDFW and Wild Fish Conservancy) inventoried barriers within the ERU, as well as collected physical and fish access/use data for these barriers and internal drainage features. These data sets informed the understanding of the presence and use of existing habitats by juvenile salmon, as well as potential access improvements and natural process restoration planning. Ducks Unlimited acquired site-specific features such as topography, bathymetry, water control structure locations, channels, and other artificial infrastructure. Additionally, Wild Fish Conservancy, in coordination with DU and WDFW, performed fish monitoring and fish habitat inventory within the property to describe presence and existing conditions. These data was evaluated to understand the property’s current physical, hydrological, and ecological characteristics. Project partners utilized the collected information to prepare a list of potential improvements and restoration actions to benefit salmonids within the Property. Data collected and used included: LiDAR, topographic surveys, exterior and interior water levels, fish trapping, and Environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling. Environmental DNA sampling within Little Andrews Creek did detect the presence of salmonid and Coho salmon, although the access of these fish into the property is still unknown. Other fish sampling activities within ERU did not reveal the presence of salmonid species. Although numerous other species of estuarine aquatic wildlife were captured, which does presume that salmon adults and juveniles may be able to enter the property, particularly within the Northeast corner that is tidally influenced.