October 3, 2011

Partnership with UGA Identifies, Preserves Historic Sites

This month marks the 10-year anniversary of FindIt, a unique program sponsored by Georgia Transmission that has tracked rare – and in many cases endangered – cultural and historical structures in Georgia.

Working in partnership with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Historic Preservation Division and the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design, FindIt has cataloged historic sites county-by-county, gathering valuable data for municipalities, utilities and developers as they plan for growth and preservation.

Students in UGA’s Historic Preservation graduate studies program conduct the field surveys and archive their findings in an online inventory of the identified historic properties. Since launching the program in 2001, FindIt has catalogued more than 12,000 properties in 41 counties across the state.

“FindIt has been an innovative and extremely effective tool incorporated into Georgia Transmission’s planning processes,” said Christy Johnson, Georgia Transmission’s environmental and regulatory compliance coordinator. “The University faculty and student participation in this program has enabled us to uncover and document some of the state’s endangered historic resources, while also helping us to responsibly plan for future growth.”

Throughout its decade-long existence, FindIt has focused on regions in Georgia primed for rapid growth. By documenting historical resources throughout the state, Georgia Transmission has not only gained valuable information for construction projects, but also taken a proactive role in historic preservation.

“Field work, like the surveying we do with FindIt, really is the backbone of historic preservation,” said Melissa Roberts, the program’s coordinator at UGA. “Our students are out there getting hands-on experience, so this is a valuable academic pursuit as well as a cataloguing venture.”

About Georgia Transmission
Georgia Transmission, a not-for-profit cooperative owned by 39 Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs), owns more than 3,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines and more than 600 substations. These facilities deliver power to Georgia’s EMCs who serve nearly 50 percent of Georgia’s population (4.5 million).

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Terry Cullen
Georgia Transmission Corporation
770 270-7207
Email: terry.cullen@gatrans.com