The Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group (SFEG) worked with the Skagit County Parks Department, Skagit County Department of Public Works, and Skagit Conservation District to develop a project that re-routed a small channelized tributary stream in Howard Miller Steelhead Park (HMSP) back into its natural course along the base of the valley wall in a former side channel of the Skagit River. The park is located in the Middle Skagit River Floodplain near the confluence of the Sauk River. The Upper Skagit River upstream of the confluence with the Sauk contains the highest density of Chinook spawning areas in the entire Skagit watershed. The off-channel sloughs and wetlands associated with the floodplain in the middle and upper Skagit River provide critical rearing habitat for juvenile Chinook and coho originating in the Upper Skagit, Sauk and Middle Skagit River. The downstream end of the project area supported ponded low velocity slough habitat that is influenced by both beaver activity and inundation from the Skagit River during high flows (Figure 1). Re-routing the perennial tributary into the existing slough area approximately doubled the inflow, improving fish access to the current backwater area and creating approximately 12 acres of additional off-channel habitat. This type of habitat is considered a Tier 1 Target Area under the Skagit Watershed Councils 2010 Strategic Approach. In July of 2012, numerous salmonids were obseved in the new channel upstream of the boardwalk.