Appendix B Grapple Piling.doc

2020 Corp 2.0 Appendix B Grapple Piling

2020 CORP 2.0

APPENDIX B

GRAPPLE PILING

1. SCOPE OF CONTRACT

This BPA call is to provide services to pile slash by means of a grapple type machine on XXX acres. Award of optional items totaling XXX acres will be contingent on availability of funds. Services will be accomplished by use of a contractor furnished and contractor operated machine. The performance period for this contract shall be from date of award (approximately _XXXXX__) through _XXXXXX_.

2. PROJECT LOCATION / ACCESSABILITY / BOUNDARIES

(a) Work areas are located within the Deschutes, Ochoco, (including the Crooked River National Grasslands) or the Fremont-Winema National Forests. Attached vicinity and project area maps show vicinity and specific locations.

(b) The project areas may be reached by the Forest roads suitable for hauling of heavy equipment during the normal operating season. The Forest Service assumes no obligation to plow snow or to perform special maintenance to keep roads open. It is the Contractor's obligation to verify and get approval from Forest Service on travel routes.

(c) The boundaries have been marked by the Forest Service 1) with blue timber sale "Boundary of Cutting Unit" tags, blue flagging and orange paint, and/or 2) with white tags and pink and black striped ribbon.

3. CONTRACTOR FURNISHED ITEMS AND SERVICES

1. CONTRACTOR OBLIGATIONS

(a) Contractor shall furnish all equipment, labor, supervision, transportation, materials, tools, supplies, and incidentals necessary to perform the described work according to the specifications.

(b) Contractor shall furnish a machine as specified and an operator with sufficient skill and experience to perform the work as specified.

(c) Contractor shall furnish and place warning signs on each end of individual units that are adjacent to roads. Minimum size for the sign(s) shall be 2 foot by 2 foot.

(d) The Contractor shall be responsible for any damage to existing structural improvements such as water developments, fences, property line monument(s), bearing trees, road blocks, road surfaces and/or drainage structures as a result of contract activities. The Contractor, at his expense, shall restore damaged property back to its original condition.

2. EQUIPMENT SPECIFICATIONS

(a) All equipment utilized during contractors operations shall be of durable design and construction to withstand the stresses of natural obstructions within forest lands such as rocks, stumps, roots, slash, dust and the general unevenness of uncultivated land.

(b) The grapple piling machine must be track mounted; shall be equipped with an articulated / positive control grapple attachment; shall be able to reach a minimum of 25 feet as measured from center pin; Machine with attachment shall not exert more than 12 p.s.i. ground pressure.

4. PERFORMANCE OF WORK

(a) Work consists of grapple piling existing slash on designated units as part of a fuel reduction program. Grapple piling shall mean to "lift and place" rather than to "push and pile."

(b) Equipment shall operate on existing skid trails and landings only. All slash within unit boundaries that can be reached from existing skid trails and landings shall be piled except for material or areas specifically exempted as indicated on the Detailed Unit Information Sheets and/or unit maps.

(c) In all units where such material is available, contractor shall leave a total of three wildlife down logs per acre, in Log Classes 2 and 3 (see #10. DEFINITIONS – Log Decomposition Classes), and having a volume of at least 40 cubic feet.

(d) Contractor shall not move or disturb from natural bed, class 4 and 5 logs.

(e) Where sufficient wildlife down logs are not present, wildlife piles shall be constructed, at approximately 1 pile for every 2 acres. The size of a wildlife pile should not exceed four feet in height, 8 feet in diameter and should contain approximately 100 cubic feet of material.

5. CONTROL OF WORK

(a) Individual Items (treatment units) may have specific completion date requirements. The Detailed Unit Information Sheet will list any specific completion date requirements for individual units.

(b) Individual treatment units may have specific areas within the unit which shall be a priority to complete first before completing the remaining acres. The Detailed Unit Information Sheet and individual unit maps will list any specific completion priority requirements within individual units.

(c) The Government reserves the right to prioritize the order in which units are treated.

(d) In the event that any cultural resources or archaeological sites are discovered during operations of this contract, work will be suspended in the immediate vicinity of the site(s) until a reconnaissance survey is completed by the Forest Service.

(e) Contractor shall protect all known and identified historic or prehistoric sites against destruction, obliteration, removal, or damage during operations. Contractor shall bear costs of restoration, provided such payment shall not relieve Contractor from civil or criminal remedies otherwise provided by law. Wheeled or track-laying equipment shall not be operated within such areas.

(f) No work will be permitted within a ¼-mile radius of an active raptor nest between April 1 to August 31 for ospreys, goshawks, and red-tailed hawks and between January 1 to August 31 for eagles.

(1) If other raptorial or unique birds are found nesting in or near treatment units, specific restrictions will be followed.

(2) If areas are found within treatment units that contain threatened and endangered species, proposed threatened and endangered species or sensitive plants, specific restrictions will be followed.

(g) Road closures will apply to all contract areas.

6. PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF SOIL DAMAGE AND EROSION

(a) During performance of contract work, the Contractor shall take precautions to minimize damage to the soil and vegetation including, but not limited to:

(1) Equipment shall not be permitted to cross meadows, stream channels, or other non-work areas designated by the Contracting Officer's Representative except at designated places.

(2) Water bars in skid trails, fire lines, spur roads, and other places, disturbed by the Contractor, shall be repaired as directed by the Contracting Officer's Representative.

(b) To avoid such damage, the Forest Service may suspend operations in whole or in part for such periods as are necessary.

(c) Damage attributable to the Contractor's operation shall be repaired immediately by the Contractor to prevent accelerated erosion or soil damage.

7. PREVENTION OF DAMAGE TO LEAVE TREES

(a) Contractor shall be required to exercise care during operations to protect leave trees.

(b) A damaged leave tree will be considered as:

(1) Trees that are pushed over or uprooted by the equipment or slash material being treated, causing the tree to lean more than ten degrees from vertical.

(2) Trees that are girdled so that the bark is removed and wood is exposed on one-quarter or more of the circumference of the bole.

(3) Trees that have broken tops due to Contractor's operations.

(4) Trees with lateral root damage consisting of either cut or exposed roots.

(c) Live trees meeting the above damage criteria may be cut and piled with other material upon COR's approval. Genetically superior trees and wildlife trees shall not be cut if damaged.

(d) The Contractor shall be liable to the Government for costs and damages incurred as a result of damaged leave trees, resulting from the Contractor's operations. Damage will be assessed based upon the following values:

(1) Leave trees 2 inches DBH to 5.9 inches DBH $10.00 per tree

(2) Leave trees 6 inches DBH to 9.9 inches DBH $20.00 per tree

(3) Leave trees 10 inches DBH and above $50.00 per tree

(4) Lodgepole pine shelterwood tree, seed tree, wildlife tree or snag $100.00 per tree

(5) All other species shelterwood tree, seed tree, wildlife tree or snag $250.00 per tree

(6) All species of select trees $500.00 per tree

8. CONSTRUCTION OF PILES

(a) All piles shall contain a minimum of soil. Material shall be shaken in the lift position prior to placing on a pile in an effort to remove all excess dirt and rocks.

(b) Height of piles shall be no less than six feet.

(c) All material piled shall be compact and generally parallel so as to insure the piles can be burned (ignited and consumed) during wet weather conditions.

(d) Piles that are loose and “jackstrawn” shall be reworked by the Contractor.

(e) Material which is 8 inches or more in diameter shall not protrude more than 8 feet beyond the base of the pile. Such material shall be repositioned onto the pile or cut and placed against the pile.

9. LOCATION OF PILES

(a) Piles shall be located so that burning will not cause damage to standing trees. Unless otherwise approved, this will mean at least 10 feet from the crown or drip line of any tree or equidistant between standing live trees, whichever is greater.

(b) Piles shall not be located in the bottom of draws which carry water during periods of surface runoff.

(c) Whenever possible, piles created by the contractor shall be placed on an existing skid trail, log landing, temporary road or other previously disturbed site.

10. DEFINITIONS

DBH – Diameter of the stem of a tree at breast height, 4 ½ feet from ground on the uphill side of the tree.

Drip-Line – An imaginary cylinder formed by the outer edges of the crown of a tree.

Leave Trees – Trees left from prior harvest or PCT activities. Leave trees may be marked with orange paint.

Log Decomposition Classes –

(1) Class 1 Log: Bark is intact with twigs present. Texture is intact to partly soft and shape is round. Color of wood is original and portions of the log are elevated on support points.

(2) Class 2 Log: Bark intact with the absence of twigs. Texture is intact to partly soft and shape is round. Color is original and the portions are elevated on support points but are sagging slightly.

(3) Class 3 Log: Trace of bark and an absence of twigs. Majority of log is sound with some area of decomposition occurring. Shape is round. Color may be faded and log is sagging near the ground.

(4) Class 4 Log: Absence of bark and twigs with the log being made up of small, soft, and blocky pieces. Shape is round to oval. Color is light brown to faded brown or yellowish. The entire log is on the ground.

(5) Class 5 Log: Absence of bark and twigs and a soft and powdery texture. Shape is oval. Color has faded to light yellow or grey. The entire log is on the ground.

Select Trees – Genetically superior designated trees which are part of the Tree Improvement Program. These trees are marked with a wide band of orange paint, a protect tree sign, aluminum tree identification tags, and in some cases brown squirrel bands around the bole at 8 to 12 feet off the ground.

Slash – All vegetative material including stems, limbs, broken tops, cull logs, chunks, pushed out stumps and root wads, resulting from harvesting, thinning, skidding or other contract activity. Also naturally occurring fuels which have accumulated as the result of disturbances such as beetle-kill, fire, wind and snow damage.

Wildlife Tree / Snag – A dead, standing tree composed of either hard or soft wood that has a minimum DBH of 10 inches and a minimum height of 10 feet.