Attachment_1-_Performance_Work_Statement__rev1_0001.pdf

Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife Refuge

Tree Planting Performance Work Statement for portions of Units 1, 2 and 3

Scope of Work Tree seedling planting This project is located on Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) to improve forest habitat conditions. The project site is further defined as the Little Pine Island Tract. Past management, prior to the establishment of the refuge, increased the prevalence of invasive exotic species and did not facilitate the development or maintenance of native bottomland hardwoods. In accordance with the Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) and Habitat Management Plan (HMP), Lower Mississippi River Valley Inflation Reduction Act Nature-based Solutions Project funding, forest habitat management will concentrate on restoring and developing and maintaining a diverse bottomland forest structure. The prescribed management action is to plant native bottomland hardwood trees with a predominance of site-specific oaks and baldcypress to promote the development of the planted seedlings and provide a greater range of forest structure. The planting will occur after the area has been treated under a separate contract to control invasive exotic Chinaberry and Chinese tallow trees.

Description and Location:

All areas are located within the city limits of New Orleans located in New Orleans East, within the boundaries of Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife Refuge. All areas to be treated are located within the Hurricane Protection Levee System. Refer to the attached maps for specific stand locations and individual acreages. Each unit is accessible via state highways or city roads.

The contract areas consist of acreage to restore habitat following previously applied herbicide and/or mastication. This contract shall consist of planting bottomland hardwood trees described hereunder on a total of 231 acres of tree planting.

From December 15, 2024 through March 15, 2025, 231 acres will be hand-planted with 100,485 native bare root bottomland hardwood tree mix as described below.

Parameters

The Contractor must give the Government Representative (GR) 72-hours’ notice before beginning and meet with the GR on-site before any work can proceed. Work will be allowed all days through the project time frame including Federal Holidays; however, work must be accomplished during favorable weather conditions.

The contractor shall require all personnel to practice proper sanitation procedures for all equipment (including personal protective gear) to avoid unnecessary spreading of invasive and exotic pest plant species within and from the treatment sites.

Contractor must successfully complete planting no less than 25 acres per day and no less than 75 acres per week. Allowances for wet or otherwise undesirable weather conditions may be granted by the Technical Point of Contact.

All tree seedlings planted must come from nursery stock from the same climate zone and be grown from States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, or Alabama. Proof of seedling stock shall be provided to the GR prior to any work.

All trees planted will be bare root and either grown in the nursery for either one or two years, but no longer. All tree seedlings must be planted at just below the root collar to support resprouting in instances of damage from rodents, rabbits, and other varmints.

Seedlings planted must not be J-rooted and all roots must be buried in soil.

All tree seedlings must be protected from the dangerous climactic elements of sun, cold and wind damage until planted and must either be planted on the site from within one week delivery from nursery harvest or at the contactors option may be kept in a cold storage at safe temperature and humidity conditions (34-38° Fahrenheit and relative humidity of 85-95%), until planted. The contractor is responsible for keeping all tree seedlings roots moist to protect the seedlings from being damaged prior to planting so that these or other controllable factors would not prevent good growth after planting.

Contractor will guarantee at least 70% survival of planted seedlings within one year of planting, barring any unnatural climactic event, such as mortality caused by flooding, drought, or by hog or other animal activity. If the survival after one year is determined by the Government Representative to be below 70% due to the negligibility of the contractor, the contractor will be required to replant the area with like species of seedlings at no additional cost to the government until the survivability reaches 70%.

After one year of survivability not caused by any climactic or vermin caused event, the contractor is released of any survivability clauses.

No trash or debris shall be left or allowed to remain on government land.

Payment

Payment will be disbursed upon completion of work to the satisfaction of the GR per planting unit, per acre. Invoices for each unit may be submitted upon completion of the whole unit or on a per acre basis in the event that acres within a unit are unable to be planted due to environmental conditions (i.e.: water levels or soil type).

The GR may remove acres to be planted from a unit based on environmental conditions that will not allow for certain acres to be successfully planted.

The GR will make regular inspections and conduct random sampling to survey completed work according to the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP). Areas not meeting the Acceptable Quality Levels (AQL) will be retreated by the Contractor to meet the AQL. The Contractor will be paid according to the contracted amount for acres successfully treated for each planting unit.

Description of planting units and methods

Areas to be planted during the winter of 2024/2025 are on attached maps. All tree seedlings and cold storage equipment must be supplied by the contractor.

The supplies and services rendered to the government shall be:

1. Furnish all labor, materials, supervision, transportation, equipment, and supplies needed to perform all work necessary to complete planting of 100,485 bottomland hardwood tree seedlings in the below amounts on 231 acres as shown in Figure 1:

16,485 Nuttall oak (Quercus nuttallii/texana) 14,000 Water oak (Quercus nigra) 14,000 Overcup oak (Quercus lyrata) 12,000 Bitter pecan (Carya aquatica) 12,000 Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) 12,000 American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) 10,000 swamp red maple (Acer rubrum var. drummondii) 10,000 Sugarberry (Celtis laevigata)

The planting shall be executed from December 15, 2024 through March 15, 2025 and are in Units 1, 2, and 3 identified as in Figures 1-4. These three units are 28 (Figure 2), 95 (Figure 3), and 108 (Figure 4) acre planting units.

All trees planted in these three units at 10’ x 10” spacing and 435 trees per acre.

The GR has the option to approve the prescribed number and species of tree species seedlings with alternate tree species if the prescribed number of seedings above is unavailable. The vendor may substitute tree species and quantity if approved by GR, but the contractor shall supply a minimum of 75% of all tree species above.

Georeferenced PDFs and shapefiles of the unit maps will be provided to the awarded contractor.

Refuge staff will designate tracts and locations of each planting mix of species.

Lower site species such as baldcypress, bitter pecan, and overcup oaks will be planted at lower elevations, while Nuttall oaks, sycamore, and red maple are planted in mid elevations, and water oaks, willow oaks, and sugarberry must be planted at higher elevations. Lower site elevation species may be planted at higher elevations, but higher elevation designated tree species may not be planted at lower elevations unless specified otherwise by the GR.

Figure 1: Tree seedling planting units.

Figure 2: Tree planting Unit 1

Figure 3: Tree planting Unit 2

Figure 4: Tree planting Unit 3