I haven't heard any details about this particular proposal, but this type of project falls into the category of creating or reconnecting off-channel and side-channel habitat to rivers and streams. Off-channel habitats are extremely important to rearing juvenile salmon, and are among the first habitats to disappear with development. Much of the Snohomish River has been dyked and with this, most off-channel habitats were lost decades ago.

There have been several off-channel habitat creation or reconnection projects on the Snohomish over the past 10 years including the Union Slough restoration project (the one along the freeway near Marysville). I've been involved with monitoring the Union Slough site and can tell you that only 2 seasons after breaching the dyke, the off-channel marsh/mudflat saw substantial use by juvenile chum, chinook, and coho salmon. Three juvenile chinook life history strategies have been found--age 0 outmigrants (usually fall chinook), age 1+ migrants (usually spring/summer chinook), as well as Wallace River hatchery chinook.

Given the location of the lake, I'm sure it would find significant use by juvenile salmon--seasonal use by chinook and possible year-round use by coho, depending on summer water temperatures. Another important consideration is that you can't do these types of projects just anywhere because of the flood control functions of the dykes--that's why the river was channelized and dyked to begin with. Here you have the opportunity to reconnect the habitat without flooding concerns, since the entire lake is already in the floodplain. One more consideration is that you will not be interfering with an existing economic use, such as agriculture (quite a concern with such proposals on the Skagit). As the article suggests, the only drawback would be the potential loss of stillwater bird habitat.

I guess it depends on what species you give priority too. Swans are nice, but they aren't ESA listed, like the Puget Sound chinook. The Snohomish River is 21 river miles of stream, about half of which is tidal freshwater, and over 90 percent of which is dyked. It represents a tremendous loss of rearing habitat for juvenile salmon. This would seem like a good opportunity to give some back without hurting farmers, homeowners, developers, etc.