Chatsworth Reservoir Set Aside as Nature Preserve

Ending a long battle over the fate of the Chatsworth Reservoir, the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners voted Tuesday to safeguard the entire 1,300-acre site in the northwest San Fernando Valley as a nature preserve.

The unanimous decision was a victory for Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, who has long pushed for preservation of the property. The outcome left Bernson’s deputy, Francine Oschin, dancing outside the meeting, singing “Yes, yes, yes!” as she jabbed the air with her fist.

“I must tell you that we are absolutely jubilant,” she said. “It has been many years. We are as happy as we can be.”

Commission President Rick Caruso, a developer who held up the vote for more than a year with an eye to building sports fields or housing on the DWP-owned land, backed down in the face of strong opposition.

As the commission moved to vote, Caruso couldn’t help teasing the preservationists in the audience, joking, “So the addendum for the high-rise condos isn’t a problem?”

The move preserves the earthen reservoir and surrounding land--a grassy oasis flecked with oak trees and seasonal ponds--as open space with limited public access. Opened in 1919, the facility once stored water for the western San Fernando Valley, but it was drained for enlargement in 1969. Two years later, the Sylmar earthquake put it out of commission for good, leaving the land to the great horned owls, Canada geese, foxes and bobcats that call it home.

Under the plan adopted by the commission, the DWP will seek state and federal funds to offset the $250,000 in yearly maintenance costs and set up an educational program to encourage more people, especially children, to visit the reservoir.

“I’m very proud of the commission and what we’ve done, which is to save a piece of L.A. that still looks the way it did 100 years ago,” said S. David Freeman, general manager of the Department of Water and Power.

“I think it’s finally recognized that this department is a good preservation agency,” he said.

For now, the site will remain the province of the Department of Water and Power, but DWP plans to seek a partner agency to help manage the property. Several agencies have voiced interest in the land, including the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Audubon Society and the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks.

“I’m very happy,” Bernson said. But the councilman, 70, now serving his final term, said he was concerned about what would become of the reservoir after he leaves office, and he pledged to push on until the land is acquired by a conservation agency.

In 1997, the City Council designated the reservoir as a wildlife refuge at the behest of Bernson. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service toured the property in August and now is considering the possibility of making it the first national wildlife refuge in Los Angeles County.

Preservationists--many of them regulars at City Hall when the reservoir appears on the agenda--rejoiced after Tuesday’s vote.

“This is a grand and glorious day,” said Rosemarie White, director of the Canada Goose Project, a Valley-based habitat conservation group.