Recreation Planning

Recreational resources reports are a critical component of FERC licensing. In order to re-license a non-federal dam, the applicant must show that there is sufficient access to recreation opportunities in the project area. The study area typically includes the waters impounded by the dam, the waters immediately downstream of the dam and the land bordering these waters. Under this program, the Berger Group has inventoried hundreds of recreational facilities for utility companies across the United States and prepared recreational resource reports, surveying facilities in a project area as well as current and anticipated demand and adequacy of facilities.

Berger assisted Connecticut Light & Power Company (CL&P) in preparing a recreational resources report for both the Falls Village and Housatonic River Hydroelectric Dam Projects. The Housatonic River runs 149 miles from a small pond in Washington, Massachusetts, to Long Island Sound. The 2,000 square mile watershed is home to a diverse array of flora and fauna and supports a large variety of recreational activities, including the Harvard-Yale crew race. The report included an inventory of available fishing, swimming and boating facilities within 30 miles of each project from which the Team was able to prepare an index of available recreational facilities in the study area of western Connecticut, eastern New York and southwestern Massachusetts. In all, the Team inventoried 96 recreational facilities in Connecticut, 172 in New York and 86 in Massachusetts. The team also prepared a more detailed project-specific inventory that included available recreation facilities by type, agency/entity operator, location, primary activities, site conditions, a photographic index of each site and each site's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Berger is also conducting recreational user surveys for CP&L including an assessment of whitewater boating potential on the Housatonic River.

In a similar assignment, Berger prepared recreation, land use and socioeconomic reports for American Electric Power's (AEP) Smith Mountain Pumped Storage Project located just below the confluence of the Blackwater and Roanoke Rivers in northern Franklin County; Virginia. A pumped storage project differs from conventional hydroelectric projects in that it normally pumps water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir when demand for electricity is low. The water is then stored in the upper reservoir until it is released to generate power during periods of peak demand. The Smith Mountain Project consists of two dams, Leesville and Smith Mountain. Leesville, the lower, provides storage for water released from Smith Mountain. Water released from Smith Mountain. Water passing through both dams during the day generates electricity, then at night and on weekends, the Smith Mountain Lake turbines reverse and become coal powered pumps to lift the water back into Smith Mountain Lake to be reused for peak demand power generation. The five units at Smith Mountain Lake generate 565,000 kilowatts and the two units at leesville, another 40,000. Berger conducted a recreational use assessment, which included a one-year analysis of the existing volumes and types of uses, a forecast of future demand and a Land Management Plan that assessed the value of AEP's property for recreational facilities and provided a guide for future land management. The final report also included an economic and fiscal impact analysis of the importance of Smith Mountain to the regional economy in support of AEP's re-licensing requirements. In subsequent assignments, Berger has conducted comparable studies for several other hydro licenses including preparation of FERC Form 80 submissions for the Yadkin Project in North Carolina, and the Tapoco Project in Tennessee.