WDFW will construct a 270-acre estuary restoration project on the Island Unit. The site is located on two mid-channel islands at the mouth of the south fork Skagit River near where it enters Skagit Bay and is part of the WDFW-owned Skagit Wildlife Area. The project will include dike and levee removal, channel excavation, scrub-shrub and forested floodplain fill areas, native shrub and tree planting, and weed management. Low angle landings and mounds will provide important access for weed management personnel and recreational users, including waterfowl hunters and kayakers. Restored estuary will provide critical rearing habitat for ESA-listed Chinook salmon (which in turn provide food for ESA-listed orcas), adult bull trout and other salmonids, waterfowl, shorebirds, beaver, shellfish, invertebrates and a host of other estuarine-dependent species. Restoration actions will lower flood water elevations for several miles upstream and allow habitats on site to adapt to climate change impacts. The project has benefitted from technical review and public input, and is supported by tribes and a variety of stakeholders. It is a key project in following through on the commitment to restore public land first and build support for future estuary restoration projects. Funding from SRFB, ESRP and NOAA has been used or is in hand for an alternative analysis, preliminary design, final design & permitting and a portion of construction. This proposal is for the balance of construction funding.