ND_Wetlands_Mapping_SOW_-_3.13.2018.docx

STATEMENT OF WORK

Dated March 13, 2018

National Wetlands Inventory Version2 North Dakota Mapping of Prairie Pothole Habitat

1. GENERAL: The National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) was established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to conduct a nationwide inventory of U.S. wetlands and surface waters to provide biologists and others with information on the distribution and type of these features to aid in conservation efforts. To do this, the NWI developed a wetland and deepwater classification system (Cowardin et al. 2013, 2nd Edition) that is now the official FWS wetland classification system, the Federal standard for wetland classification (adopted by the Federal Geographic Data Committee on July 29, 1996: 61 Federal Register 39465) and Data Collection Requirements and Procedures for Mapping Wetland, Deepwater and related habitats of the United States (July 2009). The wetlands data created for this project will be included in the Wetlands layer of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, which is a National Geospatial Data Asset and must comply with the aforementioned standards.

2. SCOPE: This work will result in the creation of digital National Wetlands Inventory Version 2 data for the prairie pothole region of North Dakota (that area east and north of the Missouri River). The initial project award (Area 1) will include 7 counties (Nelson, Pembina, Cavalier, Towner, Ramsey, Walsh and Grand Forks) in northeast North Dakota (Figure 1). Base imagery used will be the most recent imagery, which will likely be 2015, 2016 or 2017 NAIP and ancillary CIR imagery, topographic maps, LIDAR, soils maps or other information that will assist in accurate identification of wetland habitats.

The Contractor will coordinate with the Service in the selection of aerial imagery used as a base layer for the mapping. The Contractor will coordinate with Devils Lake Wetland Management District field personnel in the development of methodology to delineate wetland habitat in the PPR, particularly in the identification and classification of ephemeral, temporary, seasonal, farmed and other altered wetlands (e.g. ditched wetlands) within the project area.

The Contractor will work with the Wetlands Database Administrator to acquire the project areas and current wetlands data. The Contractor will work with the Regional and National Quality Assurance Coordinator to formulate a quality assurance and quality control plan which will include an initial review of the wetlands data, 100% internal Quality Control, Regional review of 30% of the project area, and a final national review of 10% of the project area.

The digital data will be delivered to the Service in the standard file geodatabase format and data schema provided by the Service and after passing the Wetlands Data Verification Toolset developed by the Service. The digital data must comply with the data quality guidelines and include a publication quality project metadata document for posting on the Wetlands Mapper web application. Field Trips will also need to be conducted to verify classification of remotely sensed wetlands.

Close coordination with the Service’s technical personnel at the National Standards and Support Team (NSST) will be necessary to establish deliverables.

3. DELIVERABLES AND TIME TABLES: Specific task for this contract include:

A. Data: NWI Version 2 wetlands data will be created and delivered for the Project area. The current award includes 7 counties (Nelson, Pembina, Cavalier, Towner, Ramsey, Walsh and Grand Forks) located in northeastern North Dakota.

B. Report: The Contractor will provide a copy of a publication quality project metadata document for the project area for posting on the Wetlands Mapper web application.

C. All review should be completed and the final report and data submitted within 2 years of receiving the project and base imagery.

D. The Master contract will remain valid for a 5-year period and additional mapping in North Dakota may be completed as task orders issued against the Master contract.

4. INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE: Data will need to pass the Wetlands Data Verification Toolset, 30% Regional Quality Control and 10% National Quality Assurance before acceptance into the National Wetlands Inventory database.

5. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED EQUIPMENT:

A. Access to the original wetlands data from the NWI Master Geodatabase.

B. Rules and regulations regarding GFE&I shall be the same for the Contractor as for the government employee, including GSA travel regulations.

6. AVAILABILITY: Access to work locations will be coordinated locally by the FWS. Weather can be an obstacle to some locations as well as restricted access for ecological/private property reasons.

7. CONTRACTOR ELIGIBILITY AND REQUIREMENTS: As part of the bid package, the Contractor shall submit a written statement that demonstrates their expertise in the technical areas of habitat delineation, cartography, computer-assisted mapping, geographic information systems (GIS) technology, and aerial photographic and imagery acquisition or products to produce final habitat maps and digital data according to NWI standards. This entails conducting and refining technical tasks such as image acquisition, data preparation, image analysis, field work, digital data capture, data verification, management, and transmittal for selected status and trends intensification efforts identified by the Service.

The Contractor shall demonstrate in a written statement that they have full-service mapping sciences capabilities with expertise in aerial photography, photogrammetry, remote sensing, satellite image processing, GIS services, digital orthophoto review, topography interpretation, soils and soil signature interpretation necessary for mapping wetland habitats for the NWI program.

The Contractor shall demonstrate that they are capable of aerial photography or digital imagery acquisition, mapping, digitizing, and technical analyses to produce quality wetland maps and digital data for the NWI. The Contractor shall be capable of demonstrating their ability to produce high quality vegetation mapping, temporal change detection and assessments in order to accurately identify prairie pothole wetlands with fluctuating water levels that may include aerial photography where water is not present.

The Contractor shall demonstrate expertise in the mapping of prairie pothole wetlands, particularly wetlands embedded within cropland. The Contractor shall demonstrate expertise in the mapping of wetlands that may be hydrologically impacted by drain tile, past ditching, and other anthropogenic activities associated with past and current agricultural practices within the prairie pothole region. The Contractor shall demonstrate expertise in the identification of wetland areas that may not contain water due to drought or fluctuating water levels typical of prairie pothole wetlands. Additionally, the Contractor shall be capable of using remote sensing technology, such as LIDAR, and have extensive expertise with these remote sensing platforms which results in an ability to analyze and determine a wide variety of spatial relationships that are critical in any wetlands habitat mapping.

The Contractor shall provide technical training, describing new materials and equipment, technologies, on products being developed. Training may involve Contractor personnel providing presentations on techniques, development of display products and live demonstrations of computer assisted capabilities in resource mapping, data capture, data conversion, and image rectification.

Figure 1. Location of seven counties included with initial task order.

Future Task Orders by Area

Area 2 Counties - Eddy, Foster, Griggs, Steele, Barnes, Cass, Traill Area 3 Counties - Richland, Ransom, Sargent, LaMoure, Dickey Area 4 Counties - Burleigh, Kidder, Stutsman, Logan, McIntosh, Emmons Area 5 Counties - Renville, Bottineau, Rolette, Pierce, McHenry Area 6 Counties - Divide, Williams, Burke, Moutrail Area 7 Counties – Ward, McLean, Sheridan image1.png