Fish and Wildlife Service, the project is restoring 37 acres of wetlands in the Drift Creek Unit of Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge, including by filling old drainage ditches and digging new tidal channels. Crews are filling old linear drainage ditches and excavating new tidal channels designed to resemble the pathways that once carried water through the floodplain. These structures can provide shelter for young fish while eventually becoming part of the wetland's natural habitat structure. A first phase was completed in 2023, restoring 41 acres of former tidal wetlands east of Drift Creek Road. That phase included lowering old dikes, creating more than a mile of new tidal channels, installing large wood structures, building habitat mounds and removing aging infrastructure.