A conservation easement assessment was funded by the Snake River Salmon Recovery Board and the Salmon Recovery Funding Board and conducted on a 14.84 acre parcel along nearly 1/2 mile of both sides of the Touchet River outside the city of Dayton. The easement will protect the existing mature riparian cottonwood gallery habitat, flood channels, and floodplain function. This property contains functioning habitat for spawning and rearing steelhead and migrating spring Chinook salmon. It lies approximately 840 ft upstream from a 2008 SRFB funded conservation project that also protects and expands riparian habitat. The proposed easement will protect existing stream habitat characteristics by extinguishing development rights and preventing grazing and agricultural uses within the Riparian Habitat Zone, which will cover the existing mature riparian vegetation (approximately 11.3 acres). The area is zoned for 5 acre lots; recent home development in the neighborhood placed homes within 60 feet of the river. No stream control structures are present on this property. Properly functioning floodplain provide off channel habitat, room for stream migration and stream sinuosity, which play an important role in lowering stream temperatures, providing in-stream habitat for fish and reducing flood impacts. With the completion of the assessment portion of the project the SRSRB recommended the funding of a conservation easement funded by the SRFB.