Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group acquired 8 acres that unify the north side of the Little Quilcene River and estuary from the Center Road Bridge to the Quilcene Bay with previously acquired property. This parcel includes 2,000+ feet of riverfront. Western Washington's Puget Sound and Hood Canal are comprised of large, complex estuarine systems that support tremendous biological productivity and diversity. This area is home to at least 7,000 species of invertebrates, 200 species of fish, 100 species of sea birds, and 26 species of marine mammals (Seattle District USACE 2004; PSAT 2005). Although these marine areas still support the largest remaining estuarine wetlands on the west coast, 73 percent of its saltmarsh habitat has been lost since the 1800's (PSAT 2004). The Little Quilcene River along with the Big Quilcene River estuary represents some of the most significant estuarine and saltmarsh areas in this marine complex and has been impacted by the construction of a dike system nearly 100 years ago. The estuary supports sustaining populations of Chinook, pink, chum, steelhead, coho, sturgeon, and cutthroat, yet dikes have disturbed tidal function on a significant portion of this estuary (LFA, 2003). The diking limits the amount of mesohaline habitat available to salmon fry, and this disturbance of the natural flow regime reduces juvenile chum access to the marshes and inhibits prey production (Ames et al. 2000). This acquisition will lead to further breaching of the North Little Quilcene River Dike and enhance the return of natural processes to the estuary.