Plans Underway to Improve Chatsworth Nature Preserve and Reservoir

Sylmar's trash could become Chatsworth's treasure as plans proceed to restore wetlands at the former West Valley reservoir to offset damage caused by the Sunshine Canyon landfill's expansion.

The $2-million restoration project, to be funded and performed by landfill operator Republic Services Inc., would also represent an important step in efforts to forever preserve at least a portion of Los Angeles' only nature preserve.

"This is a great thing for the community. I think everyone here is proud of this project," said Mitch Englander, chief of staff for Councilman Greig Smith.

The city's Recreation and Parks Department has finished its environmental review of the project and last week began a 30-day period to take public comments. If approved, the wetlands restoration would begin as early as next summer and take five months to complete, according to the city's report.

The reservoir at the west end of Roscoe Boulevard opened in 1918 to provide irrigation water for what was then the largely agricultural West Valley. In 1969, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power drained the reservoir for an enlargement project, but the basin was damaged in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and never refilled. The city declared the 1,300-acre reservoir property a nature preserve in 1999 . Today it is home to deer, bobcats, Canada geese and other wildlife.

Sunshine Canyon landfill, on San Fernando Road near Sylmar and Granada Hills, entered the picture earlier this decade when it sought state and federal permits to close an inactive part of the landfill and open other areas for trash. To get the permits, the landfill owners were required to restore at least 35 acres of habitat somewhere in the Los Angeles region to offset lands destroyed by the expansion.

Englander, who negotiated the Chatsworth project with Republic Services, said the city would have preferred the project be closer to the two communities most affected by the landfill, but was told that the Army Corps of Engineers concluded there were no restoration projects around Sylmar and Granada Hills large enough.

"We had fought for at a minimum a project in the [council] district, or at least the Valley," Englander said.

Under the city's deal with Republic Services, the landfill operator would restore and expand wetlands habitat below the confluence of Woolsley Canyon and Box Canyon creeks, removing 500 feet of concrete channel built for the reservoir. Non-native plants would be replaced with native species. The Department of Water and Power, which now owns the property, would transfer to the Department of Parks and Recreation the 44 acres for the wetlands project and an additional 96 acres for open space and potential future parkland.

The last part is especially good news for many who fear DWP will one day sell the nature preserve property to developers, Englander said. The 140 acres transferred to Recreation and Parks would be covered by a conservation easement, protecting it from development. Englander and others would like to see the entire 1,300 acres eventually turned over to Recreation and Parks for protection.

Rosemarie White, a Sierra Club member who has worked with Englander on the Chatsworth plan, sees the project as a big boost for wildlife and efforts to protect open space.

"When talking about a project to restore wetlands everyone should get down on their knees and praise God because it's not a high-rise hotel and three executive golf courses," she said.

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All comments must be submitted in writing no later than 3 p.m. on Nov. 15,  by mailing to: David Attaway, Environmental Supervisor, City of Los Angeles, Department of Recreation and Parks, 221 N. Figueroa St., Suite 100, Los Angeles 90012.  Facsimiles at 213-202-2611 will also be accepted up to the comment deadline (please mail the original). For further information, contact David Attaway at 213-202-2660.