Land Management

The owners of FERC-regulated facilities must carefully weigh the desire to maximize the return from the use of the site with the greater community needs. To that end, the Berger Group is assisting Duke Power in creating strategies to optimize the potential of its land under FERC jurisdiction. The Duke Power System owns six major hydro basins in North and South Carolina, including 85 recreational areas.

The Berger Team reviewed Duke's current land management practices, prepared a site-specific GIS-based inventory and management system, and presented a number of development options for Duke-owned recreation areas. The first phase of the program reviewed current leasing practices; available funding for facility development and operation; potential constraints on the long-term development of facilities; possible interim- and long-term development options; and procedures for the review and restructuring of proposed leases on Duke-owned land. During the second phase, Berger integrated Duke's sires into a GIS-based Recreation Facility Management Inventory, supported by an extensive spatial database of site-specific information. The new system allows Duke to document inspections, generate work requests and locate sires with specific characteristics. During this phase, the Berger experts also recommended strategies to optimize long-term development and enhance future sire management, including prospective clients and marketing approaches. In the third phase, Berger prepared sire-specific development plans, including site improvements and detailed cost estimates for the 15 areas with the highest lease/sale potential.