The Whidbey Camano Land Trust, working with The Nature Conservancy, used this grant to acquire and protect over 3,200 acres of high quality estuarine, nearshore habitat in Livingston Bay, located in the western portion of Port Susan Bay, Island County. It includes over 3,000 acres of tidelands, a 7-acre pocket estuary, and an upland marine forested feeder bluff. The project area is identified in the WRIA 6 Salmon Recovery Plan as a top protection priority. Nearshore habitat such as this provides the greatest number of functions to the greatest number of salmon and trout stocks and their life history stages. The tidelands are utilized by juveniles and adults, and are particularly important for Chinook fry migrants during their first days of nearshore migration from the nearby Stillaguamish River. The acquisition protects a critically important spawning area for forage fish, including sand lance and surf smelt. The shoreline is identified as a primary pathway for migrating bull trout. Protection of this type of high quality nearshore habitat is vital for salmon recovery to be successful. This project presented a rare opportunity to put over 7,000 acres of contiguous and highly functional tidelands in protected status. Adjacent lands protected for fish and wildlife habitat include 4,000 acres of tidelands owned and protected by The Nature Conservancy, 315-acre Leque Island owned by WDFW, and the 120-acre Iverson Spit conservation area and associated tidelands protected by Island County.