The Willapa Coastal Forest project involves permanent protection of approximately 2,394 acres of industrial timberland in Pacific County, adjacent to Willapa National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). Western Rivers Conservancy is currently under contract to purchase the property, and has partnered with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to arrange for its inclusion in the Willapa NWR.

The project will ensure that the property's roughly 39 miles of perennial and intermittent streams in the Bear River and Wallicut River watersheds will be safeguarded from future degradation and readied for restoration to support anadromous runs of salmon, steelhead, cutthroat trout and lamprey. At the heart of the project lies approximately 3 miles of Bear River and Bear Branch, including the last portion of the Bear River estuarine environment not under NWR ownership. The project will extend the USFWS' reach into the freshwater habitats of the lower Bear River watershed, building upon its decade-long effort to restore ecosystem functions in the Bear River estuary. Indeed, the promise of this project is not limited to the benefits of accrued from habitat protection, but also includes the long-term opportunity it will create for restoration of spawning and rearing habitat in the small but significant Bear River watershed.