The Smith property, which is a conservation property owned by the The Nature Conservancy is approximately 34 acres and located adjacent to the Sauk River on the Concrete Sauk Valley Road near MP 12. The site is wooded and Hobbit Creek flows northwesterly through the site and is known to support steelhead, coho salmon, and cutthroat trout. The Sauk River has been identified as high priority watershed for recovery of threatened Chinook salmon in the Skagit basin. Mainstem edge habitat, side channels and tributary junctions represent biological "hotspots" for Chinook salmon, steelhead trout and bull trout as well as other salmon in the Sauk River. The general strategy for floodplain restoration emphasizes reconnecting isolated floodplain areas and restoring mainstem edge habitat and acquisition or protection of existing functional floodplain lands acquired to prevent future isolation or habitat degradation. This goal of this project was to improve floodplain habitat and functions.

The goal of this project was to enhance salmon habitat by removing 150 linear feet of road and two associated, undersized culverts, which were causing fish passage problems. Road and culvert removal restored natural flow conditions and provided access to several acres of wetland habitat and critical off-channel rearing habitat for salmon. The project also enhanced riparian and floodplain vegetative species and structural diversity and conifer abundance through interplanting of the site with conifers.