Reservoir Preservation Advances

CHATSWORTH —  The Los Angeles City Council moved Wednesday toward preserving the Chatsworth Reservoir for wildlife, directing the Department of Water and Power, which owns the property, to lease it to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

“This is a first step,” said Joseph T. Edmiston, executive director of the conservancy.

Edmiston said the proposed 10-year lease agreement would ensure that the 1,100-acre tract in the northwest San Fernando Valley is managed for wildlife protection and public use.

The move, approved in a 14-0 vote by the council, follows years of effort to preserve the reservoir property from development, said City Councilman Hal Bernson, sponsor of the motion.

The property was taken out of service as a reservoir in 1973, DWP officials said.

There is still a pond on part of the site, and a lake forms at the bottom of the basin during the wet winter months, then dries up in the summer, said Paul Edelman, staff ecologist for the conservancy.

The area is home to bobcats, deer, coyotes and many birds. It consists mostly of grasslands, though a rare salt-pan plant community, adapted to both immersion and drought, grows at the bottom of the basin, Edelman said.

Public access is now limited to prearranged visits by organizations such as the Audubon Society, he said.

The conservancy plans to continue managing the site as a wildlife preserve, though “there would certainly be more public access then there is now,” Edmiston said.

How much access will be permitted remains unclear, he said. DWP’s Eric Tharp, however, said it’s very likely there will be increased opportunities for “ranger-supervised public use.”

Edelman said the conservancy plans to restore oak trees and do environmentally sensitive brush clearances on the site to prevent fires.