BERNSON HOPES TO PRESERVE PRESERVE.

Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

City Councilman Hal Bernson called Wednesday for a long-term lease and deed restriction to ensure the long-term protection of Chatsworth Reservoir as a nature preserve and educational center.

Stepping up his pressure on use of the 1,300-acre property, Bernson said be is pleased with the Department of Water and Power's plan to manage its site but remains concerned about the future.

``While I appreciate the short-term assurances of this plan to comply with the request of the council to protect the Chatsworth Nature Preserve/Reservoir, we need to know that we can also provide long-term protection for this very sensitive environment,'' he wrote in a letter to DWP Commission President Rick Caruso.

The long-unused and fenced reservoir is home to owls, bobcats, Canada geese, and endangered bird and plant species. Debate over whether the sprawling acreage should be used exclusively as a nature preserve, or be developed for sports fields or other uses as well has raged for a year.

In its action plan released this week, the DWP agreed to develop most of the site as a nature preserve, and to seek funds for an outreach program, tour guides, habitat enhancement and construction of a visitor nature center.

However, Bernson wants to see the property's use as wildlife habitat cast in stone through a deed restriction and said that plan should be accompanied by a long-term lease with an agency that would manage the site, such as the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy or the Audubon Society.

While the Department of Recreation and Parks also has been mentioned as a possible guardian of the site, Bernson said he has misgivings about that.

``It could be Recreation and Parks if there was a deed restriction on it,'' he said.

``But Recreation and Parks does some other things, such as managing golf courses and sports facilities, so I might have a little hesitation about Recreation and Parks unless there was an iron-clad protection for the reservoir.''

Caruso said the board would consider those issues in its upcoming discussions. The panel received the action plan at its meeting Tuesday and will vote on it in a future session.

``We certainly would look at doing a long-term lease,'' he said. ``We're currently looking at who the partner would be over the next few months.''

Commissioner Dominick Rubalcava said that while the board is committed to preserving the reservoir, it won't rush its decision on how to do so.

``I do not know whether we will have a lease, whether we will have joint management, whether we will have deed restrictions,'' he said.