S01 - Amendment 002- Q and A 12FPC425Q0072 Kentucky Tree Planting.pdf

Kentucky WRE Tree Planting 2025-2026

Questions and Answers for Solicitation 12FPC425Q0072

1. Have any of the Kentucky state nurseries been contacted about needing a large quantity of tree seedlings for this project?

No

2. Can any of the tree species be substituted if there is difficulty finding the correct quantity of tree seedlings?

No not currently.

3. If crop fields are not harvested by November 1st which is the deadline for the wheat nurse crop to be planted, do we just not do wheat?

NRCS will evaluate at the time and correspond with landowner to determine when crop will be harvested in conjunction with the weather forecast.

4. Since the SOW has changed, will there be a revised price sheet (Attachment 5) to reflect the changes in the acres/seedling quantities for the Carlus/Jason Mercer site?

The change has been made in the pricing sheet to update the acres from

824.4 to 879.4.

5. In going over the revised SOW for this bid, there are a few discrepancies regarding some of the acreage numbers. Under section 5. Site Preparation, it states that there is now 1178.4 acres of planting with a no-till drill and 210.8 acres of no site preparation needed. After running the numbers for each job, it seems that there is 1621.6 acres of seeding and 221.4 acres of no site preparation. Also, for Carlus/Jason Mercer, the total acreage is 879.4 acres, but only 840.4 gets site preparation.

Gayle/Thomas Brown is similar to that, as it states the total acreage is 29.4, but calls for 40 acres of site preparation. Could we get some clarification on that?

Site preparation includes the following: 1178.4 ac. planting with no-till drill, 221.4 ac. of no site preparation, 482.3 ac. of mowing and spraying then drilling with no-till drill, and 109.1 ac. of mowing and spraying with

15.0 ac. of 109.1 being forestry mulched.

The 2 highlighted acreages did change so I have corrected them on the SOW and attached the revised.

Carlus and Jason Mercer: 879.4 ac. total with 840.4 ac. being no-tilled drilled, and 39 ac. being mowed and sprayed then no-till drilled.

Gayle/Thomas Brown has been corrected to have 29.4 ac. total with the site preparation being mowed and sprayed then no-till drilled.

The SOW has been updated to reflect the above information in REVISION 2 dated 9.15.25.

6. Is it possible to bill for a portion of the total amount per job after the site preparation is done?

YES

7. Is the time period for the site preparation absolute? For example, Swain, LLC WRE Site states that site preparation will consist of mowing a total of 173.7 acres within 14 days of contract award followed with a chemical application of Roundup no earlier than 2 weeks after mowing, but before October 1. Since the bid closes on September 15, this would mean that we would need to finish mowing on the 15'th in order for the 2 weeks to pass before spraying it before October 1'st. We would like some clarification on that.

NRCS will allow some variance on site preparation due to the contract being awarded so late. We will allow for the wheat nurse crop to be planted up to Nov. 15th. The mowing and spraying will have some variances as well and NRCS will do the best we can to modify the site preparation to be able to get completed. However, NRCS is requesting the contractor that gets awarded the project contact NRCS to discuss timelines as soon as they sign all contract documents.

8. Are species substitutions allowed, and if not, could the densities be changed in order to keep the total amount of trees the same if the total number of a certain species is unavailable. (Ex. if 8,000 Swamp Chestnut Oak is needed, but we are only able to get 6,000, could we raise the numbers of another species to make up for the 2,00 missing from Swamp Chestnut Oak?)

Potentially but NRCS will evaluate on a case by case basis.

9. Will maps/shapefiles of the total planting/site preparation area be provided? I believe the location maps in Attachment 2 show the entire easement as the acreages do not match to the planting site details.

NRCS can provide all necessary maps to show all areas to be planted for each site.

10. There is also no map for Swain, though, there is a map for a Miles Farms. Not sure if there was a name change or if it is just a mistake.

Attached is a new map with updated name change.

11. Are the size specification for the bareroots all of the dimensions listed, or is that an "or" statement, where they would need to be 10" tall OR root collar diameter be at least ¼ inch?

Below are the specific requirements (and it’s not “OR”) The following plant species: Big Shellbark Hickory and Shagbark Hickory shall have the following dimensions;

- Minimum height of 8” inches and a maximum height of 36 inches

- Diameter at the root collar of at least 1/4 inch

- Roots shall be at least 5 inches in length and MUST be pruned to 10 inches, as necessary;

8. The following plant species: Pecan shall have the following dimensions;

- Minimum height of 10” inches and a maximum height of 36 inches

- Diameter at the root collar of at least 1/4 inch

- Roots shall be at least 5 inches in length and MUST be pruned to 10 inches, as necessary;

9. The following plant species: Overcup Oak, Swamp White Oak, Swamp Chestnut Oak, Bur Oak, Nutall Oak, Willow Oak, Pin Oak, Cherrybark Oak, Shumard Oak, Black Walnut, Persimmon, Silky Dogwood, and Bald Cypress, shall have the following dimensions;

- Minimum height of 14 inches and a maximum height of 48 inches

- Diameter at the root collar of at least 1/4 inch

- Roots shall be at least 5 inches in length and MUST be pruned to 10 inches, as necessary;