The Yakama Nation acquired 60.9 acres of critical off-channel rearing habitat along a priority reach of the Naches River to protect it from future development. Fish managers and stream ecologists identified the project reach as a critical rearing area for juvenile steelhead, chinook, coho and bull trout. The attendant floodplain is relatively unconfined, and groundwater upwelling is significant. The largest municipality in the Yakima Basin (City of Yakima) borders the downstream edge of the project reach. Although development had degraded habitat function, large areas remained unencumbered. Further development would have further compromised habitat function. In other areas of the Naches River basin, salmonid rearing habitat had been heavily impacted through irrigation, diking and a myriad of construction actions. This project protected two parcels in a strategic area from development, providing habitat "strongholds" for the future. Property acquisition was initiated through the BPA-funded "Yakima Side Channels" project. Two parcels were acquired that had already been appraised.