The project continued an effective collaboration to protect, through acquisition, high quality Chinook habitat in the Skagit River system. The project area included Tier 1 and Tier 2 floodplains of the Skagit River and major tributaries located in the upper Skagit River reach, upstream of Rockport, as identified in the Skagit Watershed Council’s (SWC’s) Year 2010 Strategic Approach. Priority parcels were determined by the guidelines identified in SWC’s Year 2010 Strategic Approach, previous and forthcoming assessments, and new site-specific information and/or further analytical work approved by SWC’s Protection Committee. The top three target properties were located along Jackman Creek, Jones Creek, and the mainstem Skagit River. The landowners of the Jackman Creek and Jones Creek properties declined to move forward with a sale as the current fair market value of the two properties, determined by an independent appraisal, was not acceptable. Instead, alternate high quality Chinook habitat parcels were acquired along the Skagtit and Cascade Rivers. Critical freshwater rearing and spawning habitat is currently limiting the production of the six independent Skagit River Chinook populations identified in the Skagit Chinook Recovery Plan (2005) and by the Puget Sound Chinook TRT (Rucklehaus et al. 2006). This project was funded by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) on December 8, 2011 as a $1,475,080 comprehensive acquisition and landowner outreach grant for both the "middle" and "upper" Skagit River reaches (11-1536), administered by Seattle City Light. For administration purposes, the project was split into two separate grant agreements. The SRFB and Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration (PSAR) grant funds could be transferred between grants, if necessary.