Cascade Land Conservancy is seeking funds to protect 30 acres of critical salmon habitat on the Sauk River. The project area is part of the Skagit River watershed, the most important salmon-prducing river system in all of Puget Sound, and the only watershd in the Pacific Northwest with all five species of salmon. Acquisition of this property will protect approximately 427 meters of side-channel rearing habitat for the Lower Sauk Spring Chinook and address the recovery plan's gap in haibtat opportunity and recommendations to protect functioning riparian floodplains. The project area provides spawning and rearing habitat for all five salmon species, as well as threatened steelhead and bull trout. CLC is working with the Town of Darrington and the willing landowners to acquire the properties for long-term public ownership and management by the Town. A conservation easement will provide additional permanent protection. The project will provide a two-fold benefit for salmon habitt and passive recreational and educational use, vital to the Town and Snohomish County's community. This project is part of a greater protection and restoration effort on the Sauk River, including current efforts to improve fish passage downstream, address stormwater discharge from Darrington, and protect salmon habitat on the adjacent mill site. Acquisition of these properties is timely and necessary to eliminate the threat of conversion and protect hydrologic and riparian processes critical to the salmon recovery effort.