In order to investigate how quickly salt marsh foraminifera respond to rapid sea-level rise, we observed the foraminiferal response to the tidal restoration of the Ni'les-tun marsh (NM), Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge (Oregon). The data sets contain:(1) Census counts of Recent Rose Bengal stained and dead benthic foraminifera. These surface (0-1cm) samples were taken prior tidal restoration in August 2011 and in the six years after tidal restoration until August 2017 the Ni'les-tun marsh. A total of eight station were investigated (NM stations 1 to 8)(2) Grainsize and geochemical analyses prior to and during the first year after tidal restoration (August 2011-August 2012). For grainsize and geochemical analyses, another set of surface samples (0-1 cm) were taken at the eight NM stations used for benthic foraminiferal analyzes.(3) Fossil benthic foraminiferal data from the upper 5 cm of a short core, taken by hand at surface NM station 1 in March 2016. The core was taken to investigate how the recent benthic foraminiferal record was transferred into the fossil record at NM station 1.