Tarboo-Dabob Bay is is identified as one of the largest and least impacted salt marsh complexes remaining in the Straits and Hood Canal region, provides important juvenile rearing habitat for summer chum and Chinook salmon, and is a high priority (Domain 2) in the HCCC Restoration Strategy and 3-Year plan. After several years of scientific assessment and public discussion, DNR recently approved expansion of the Dabob Bay Natural Area to provide long-term, comprehensive protection to the the Bay's high quality estuarine habitats. 2000 acres of state timber land around the steep slopes of the bay will be protected and The Nature Conservancy, DNR, Jefferson County and other project partners have been working with willing landowners to secure private lands. Five shoreline lots located between the DNR Natural Area Preserve and the WDFW Lower Tarboo Creek Preserve on the west side of inner Tarboo Bay remain unprotected. This project will permanently conserve and restore two of these shoreline lots, as a Phase I project, by purchase of a conservation easement that will be conveyed to the Jefferson Land Trust. A total of 3 acres low bank waterfront, riparian forest and saltmarsh shoreline, and the lower end of a small freshwater stream will be protected, with riparian restoration occuring on one of the lots.