The Raging River sub-basin lies along the western edge of the Snoqualmie watershed and is separated by a ridge from the eastern flank of the Cedar River watershed. The river flows from its headwaters in a northwesterly direction before turning eastward near the town of Preston and descending to join the Snoqualmie River at Fall City .

Land-use in the sub-basin is primarily composed of forestry in the upper watershed southward of the Interstate 90 crossing, while low-density rural residential land use dominates the lower basin. The unincorporated towns of Preston and Fall City feature somewhat higher density residential areas as well as commercial and industrial uses.

A large proportion of the Raging River is under public agency ownership (Figure 14). The Washington Department of Natural Resources owns and manages large blocks of forested lands in portions of the basin, including some areas classified as rural residential land-use under the King County Comprehensive Plan. Forested lands in the upper watershed are mostly under private ownership. The City of Seattle owns minor portions of the basin along the southwestern edge for purposes of protecting water quality in Chester Morse Lake and the Cedar River, the primary source of potable water for the Seattle metropolitan area.

The Raging River is one of the core spawning areas for Snoqualmie Chinook salmon as well as populations of steelhead and coho. Restoration and protection actions to protect spawning habitat and to improve juvenile rearing habitat are considered high priorities in the Snohomish Basin Salmon Recovery Plan.

One of the watershed’s most successful habitat restoration actions to date was completed in the Raging River sub-basin in 2006. The removal of the Carlin levee near Preston reconnected the river to several acres of its historical floodplain, restored natural river processes along an important spawning reach and created new off-channel rearing habitat for juvenile salmonids.