Upcoming Event

Notification of DWP Earth Day Open House Date Change:
SAVE THE DATE! Saturday, June 21, from 9 am to 1 pm
DWP Open House Earth Day
Free Public Event!

Since June is typically warmer, we’re starting an hour earlier and will be setting up cooling stations at strategic points along the walking path. Keep in mind, this not a rain or shine event, so it could be cancelled or postponed due to inclement weather. Ceremony with Native American Blessing, Guided Nature Hike, Animal Exhibits, and Environmental & Community Resource Fair. Further information will be posted as we get closer to the date.

Tribute to Arthur "Art" Langton

(November 8, 1939 - February 21, 2025)

As a 9 year’s old boy scout he was required to earn a bird-study merit badge, identifying 40 species of birds. He completed this requirement which was a kick-off to his lifetime commitment-dedication to nature and science.

He earned his Bachelor’s degree, 1966, at UCLA in geography and earned his teaching credentials. He also began joining his mother, Irene Langton, on Audubon Society volunteer field trip studies. Art’s teaching experience began at John A. Sutter Middle School and he was chairman of the science department. Along with Roger Keen, both Sutter Middle School science teachers, they conducted lectures/workshops at Griffith Observatory Planetarium.

He was for many years a member, as well as a President and board member of the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society (SFVAS), devoting years of volunteering as a nature leader, and bird counter in greater Los Angeles and beyond. Both Helen Treend and Art, school teachers, during the 1990s, provided school children’s educational nature visits and adult trips inside of the Chatsworth Reservoir-Chatsworth Nature Preserve. He was a co-leader, along with Mark Osokow, on behalf of the Simi Hills Wildlife Observatory (SHWO) in the 2024 Mid-Winter and Spring Bird Surveys. He began his leadership/participation in the annual international Christmas Bird Count for the Audubon Society for decades, starting in 1958. He worked on the ”Canada Goose Project” organized by Dr. Rose Marie White. He can be considered the godfather of CNP bird studies. He also participated in countless other bird scientific field studies inside and outside of the CNP.

Please read the complete tribute.

Working Together to Save a Crucial Wildlife Habitat in Los Angeles-San Fernando Valley

MISSION STATEMENT

We are pledged to preserve the largest remaining natural area in the northwestern San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, with an Ecology Pond, seasonal wetlands and vernal pools, grasslands, oak woodlands and savanna, and riparian areas. We are working together to preserve all wildlife, and cultural and archaeological assets.

PURPOSE

The CNP Coalition has formed to protect this precious open space as a nature preserve for wildlife and to prevent any development or modifications that will negatively impact the habitat. The long-term vision is to incorporate the CNP within a larger network of wildlife corridors and protected open space.

BACKGROUND

The Chatsworth Nature Preserve (CNP) is a major City of Los Angeles open space preserve teeming with wildlife. More than 200 species of Birds are on site including, Residents: Greater Roadrunner, California Quail, woodpeckers, herons and egrets; Migrants: Canada Goose, Western Meadowlark, Tricolored Blackbird, and sapsuckers as well as a variety of ducks and shorebirds; Raptors: Ferruginous Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Prairie Falcon, Long-eared Owl, and many others. There are notable Amphibians and Reptiles: western spadefoot toad, slender salamander, western skink, ring-necked snake, red racer and much more. The fauna includes large and small Mammals: desert cottontail rabbit, gray fox, coyote, raccoon, and occasional visits of bobcat, cougar and mule deer. Habitats include oak woodlands and savanna, riparian areas, chaparral, grassland, and an Ecology Pond. The seasonal wetlands, and vernal pools, as well as portions of the grasslands and riparian areas are now under threat by a poorly conceived modification project.

LEARN MORE:
Extended list of birds in the CNP
List of amphibians and reptiles in the CNP
Survey of vegetation in the CNP
Los Angeles Times photographs of the CNP

Ringed neck snake, great egret, black headed snake.
Photos by Sophia Wong

HISTORY

Recent History
Former Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, other community leaders and environmental organizations, worked together to create the "Chatsworth Nature Preserve". In 1994 all 1325 acres became protected under L.A. City Ordinance No. 169723, with limited uses to a Nature Preserve and related scientific studies and education.

LEARN MORE:
DWP 1974 letter regarding ecology pond

Film and TV
Like other picturesque scenery of Chatsworth, the CNP – formerly Chatsworth Lake and Chatsworth Reservoir, was a filming location, vintage movies from the 1920’s included “Tess of the Storm Country”, “The Toll Gate”, “Three Word Brand”, during the 1940-1950’s westerns, such as “Old California Way”, “The Palomino”, and TV filming including Rin Tin Tin were filmed inside the CNP. For detailed information about historic Chatsworth filming, visit: iversonmovieranchblogspot.com. If you are in the film industry looking for a local filming location, contact the Mountains Recreation Conservatory Authority, website: www.MRCA.ca.gov for their filming locations which are accessible. The Chatsworth Nature Preserve is not available for filming locations, public access, only approved scientific field studies, and the once a year DWP Earth Day Open House and special event announcements which are posted when the community is invited to visit.

CNPC ACTION

CNPC Comments on Santa Susana Trails Master Plan Phase II
December 15, 2017
Expresses support for Trails Master Plan, and offers suggestions for improvement.

CNPC Statement to LA City Planning Opposing Andora Estates
September 20, 2016
Advises LA City Planners that Andora Estates proposed development would destroy CNP's protected wildlife corridor, and warns of faulty EIR biological assessments.

CNPC Statement to LA City Planning Opposing Andora Estates
September 19, 2016
Advises LA City Planners that Andora Estates proposed development would destroy CNP's protected wildlife corridor.

CNPC Letter to DWP Regarding Ecology Pond
July 12, 2016
Asks DWP to keep their commitments regarding the Ecology Pond and related wildlife, addressed to DWP General Manager Marci Edwards.

Tribute to Helen Treend (February 5, 1932 – July 10, 2015)
April, 2016
Honoring the life and passionate environmental activism of Helen Treend who helped lead the fight that saved the nature preserve's lands from development.

DEIR Comment Letter against Andora Estates Proposed Development
April 18, 2016
Addresses detrimental impact of proposed luxury housing development on the Chatsworth Nature Preserve and its wildlife corridor

Statement and call for action against proposed Hidden Creeks Estates housing development.
December 24, 2015

Ecology Pond Essay, Importance of the Chatsworth Nature Preserve Ecology Pond and Proposal for its Preservation
July 30, 2015

Letter to Marcie Edwards, General Manager DWP
July 09, 2015
Addresses DWP's management practices of CNP Ecology Pond and CNP in general

Letter to Anne Dove, Project Manager, National Park Service
June 30, 2015
Rim of the Valley Corridor Draft Special Resource Study (ROV): Comments on Draft Report

Letter to Ronald Nichols, General Manager, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
August 20, 2013
Addresses issues raised by DWP's proposed modifications to the CNP Ecology Pond

Letter to Los Angeles Country Supervisors Regarding Woolsey Canyon Estates
September 03, 2013
Addresses detrimental environmental impact to CNP and adjacent open areas from proposed residential housing development in nearby Simi Hills

CNP Coalition Delegate and Advisor Affiliations:

Simi Hills Wildlife Observatory, Southwestern Herpetologists Society, California State Parks, California Native Plant Society, Lake Manor Residents, USGS/Western Ecological Research Center, National Park Service.